M365 Roundup, April 2022: Defender for Business Standalone Hits the CSP Price List
TL;DR
- Microsoft Defender for Business standalone became purchasable by CSPs on May 1, 2022, priced at USD 3 per user per month.
- The deadline for renewing commercial seat-based legacy CSP subscriptions moved from July 1 to July 11, 2022, before NCE becomes the only path.
- Azure subscriptions and reservations can now transfer between CSP partners directly in the Azure portal, replacing a form-based process that did not move reserved instances.
- Windows 365 Business and Enterprise gained an annual CSP term in April 2022, priced 10 percent below the monthly term, with no mid-term switches between monthly and annual.
- Blocked Teams apps now appear in the app store with a lock badge, and end users can request access to them.
April 2022 is a licensing month. Four of the five items MSPs care about sit in the Partner Center column: a $3 endpoint security SKU for small business, a softer deadline on legacy renewals, portable Azure subscriptions, and an annual term for Windows 365. Teams contributes one feature, and it is one your users will notice before you do.
Licensing and Partner Center
Defender for Business standalone goes on sale May 1 at $3 per user (licensing)
Microsoft Defender for Business standalone becomes available for CSPs to purchase on May 1, 2022, appearing in the May 1 CSP price list. The offer is priced at USD 3 per user per month, with the usual caveat that price varies by subscription term, currency, and region.
To see where it sits against the rest of the SMB security stack, Microsoft published a comparison: compare security features in Microsoft 365 plans for small and medium-sized businesses (opens in new tab).
Legacy CSP renewals get ten more days: July 11, 2022 (licensing)
CSP partners who want customers' commercial seat-based legacy subscriptions renewed on the legacy platform now have until July 11, 2022, up from the previously announced July 1.
Two practical notes for partners buying through distribution: legacy subscriptions will most likely auto-renew into New Commerce to avoid any disruption in service, and a legacy subscription whose back-end renewal date falls after July 11 will not renew into NCE until that official renewal date arrives.
Partner Center documentation: April 2022 announcements (opens in new tab).
Azure subscriptions and reservations now transfer between partners (licensing)
Building on the new commerce experience for Azure, the Azure portal now supports transferring a customer's Azure subscriptions and reservations between partners in the CSP program. Previously this was a tedious, form-driven process, and it did not move reserved instances at all.
Partner Center documentation: April 2022 announcements (opens in new tab).
Windows 365 gains an annual term at a 10 percent discount (licensing)
Windows 365 monthly terms reached the current CSP experience in August 2021 and CSP new commerce in October 2021. Effective immediately, partners can also sell Windows 365 Business and Enterprise on an annual subscription term, priced 10 percent below the monthly term.
The same NCE cancellation policy that governs all other seat-based offers applies. One constraint to plan around: mid-term conversions between monthly and annual Windows 365 SKUs are not allowed in either direction. Term duration can only change at the beginning of a new term.
Partner Center documentation: April 2022 announcements (opens in new tab).
Teams: blocked apps become visible, and requestable
If your organization blocks apps in Teams, end users can now find those apps in the catalog and request them. Blocked apps carry a lock badge so users know they are currently unavailable, and the store lists allowed apps first, followed by blocked ones. Users still cannot install a blocked app until an admin unblocks it, but expect the request queue to become a new source of tickets.
Rollout: late April 2022, expected complete by early May.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to legacy CSP subscriptions that renew after July 11, 2022?
If you work with a distributor, legacy subscriptions will likely auto-renew into New Commerce to avoid service disruption. A legacy subscription with a back-end renewal date after July 11 will not move to NCE until that official renewal date.
Can you switch a Windows 365 subscription between monthly and annual terms mid-term?
No. Mid-term conversions between monthly and annual Windows 365 SKUs are not allowed; term duration can only change at the start of a new term.
New SKUs are easy to sell, hard to verify
Defender for Business at $3 a seat is an easy add. Proving it is configured and still working in every tenant is the hard part. CloudCapsule checks 250+ controls per tenant in about 60 seconds.
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Written by
Nick Ross
CEO · Microsoft MVP · Founder, T-Minus 365
Nick is not just a CEO, he's a respected thought leader and influencer in the MSP space. Tens of thousands of MSPs learn through his YouTube channel, T-Minus365. Nick has been honored as a three-time Microsoft MVP for his educational content; his expertise and influence are the backbone of our mission, ensuring that you are in the best hands when it comes to security.
Nick joined Pax8 in 2017, where he would ultimately oversee product management for PSA and Microsoft integrations. Following his tenure at Pax8, Nick has continued to demonstrate his leadership prowess as an executive at various MSPs, culminating in his most recent role at Sourcepass.
Nick holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Florida State University, as well as a Minor Degree in Entrepreneurship. In his free time, Nick is an avid hiker, reader, and fitness-junkie.
