M365 Roundup, September 2021: NCE Lands and Basic Auth Gets Its Final Date

Two announcements in September 2021 will still matter in a year: Microsoft rewired how CSP partners sell seats, and basic authentication finally got a permanent shutoff date. Everything else this month is quality-of-life, but those two set deadlines that belong on your planning calendar now. Here is the full set of MSP-relevant changes, billing and deadlines first.

Billing: the New Commerce Experience reaches seat-based offers#

The New Commerce Experience, announced back in 2019 for Azure, consolidates the channels where a customer can transact, with Microsoft describing a simplified journey where the partner sells value-added services on top of its cloud. September's news extends NCE into seat-based offerings such as Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform.

The teeth are in the terms. Microsoft is positioning pricing to push the community into annual or multi-year contracts: month-to-month terms carry a 20% premium. Cancellation policies change too, ending prorated refunds on subscriptions after the first 72 hours of purchase. Microsoft's marketing frames this as greater customer profitability through commitment and fewer moves, adds, and changes for the MSP across the year.

There is a lot to unpack; our full breakdown is here: the New Commerce Experience for CSP.

Exchange: basic auth's end date, the classic EAC's retirement, and DKIM for phishing sims#

Basic auth now has a permanent shutoff date (end of life)#

Microsoft updated its plan for turning off basic auth in all tenants. The full announcement: Basic Authentication and Exchange Online, September 2021 Update (opens in new tab).

The highlights:

• Scope includes Exchange Web Services (EWS), Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), POP, IMAP, Remote PowerShell, MAPI, RPC, SMTP AUTH, and OAB.
• Effective October 1, 2022, Microsoft begins permanently disabling basic auth in all tenants, regardless of usage, with the exception of SMTP AUTH, which can still be re-enabled after that.
• The most concerning part: beginning in early 2022, Microsoft will selectively pick tenants and disable basic auth for all affected protocols except SMTP AUTH for 12 to 48 hours at a time.
• You can request that specific protocols not be turned off on a per-tenant basis; instructions are in the article above.

What to do now:

• Identify basic auth within your tenants.
• SMTP auth needs early attention even though the tenant-level shutoff waits until October 2022:
  • Disable SMTP auth at the tenant level and re-enable per user or account, as described in Securing Authenticated SMTP in Exchange Online (opens in new tab).
  • For copiers and printers, use options 2 or 3 in How to set up a multifunction device or application to send email using Microsoft 365 or Office 365 (opens in new tab).
  • PowerShell can confirm the tenant-level SMTP auth setting: Enable or disable SMTP AUTH (opens in new tab).
• Account for any ticketing system that may be pulling mail over IMAP.

The classic Exchange admin center begins its exit (features moving)#

Microsoft announced general availability of the new Exchange admin center in April 2021, and the classic EAC will be fully retired on September 1, 2022.

In the first phase, the following features move to the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. Beginning October 15, 2021, users and administrators can no longer access these pages in the classic EAC; clicking them shows a banner linking to the feature's new home:

• Safe Attachments
• Safe Links
• Malware Filter
• Connection Filter
• Spam Filter
• Outbound Spam
• Quarantine
• Action Center
• DKIM

DKIM domains supported in Advanced Delivery (new feature)#

Microsoft is adding DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) domain entry to the Advanced Delivery policy, so security administrators can use DKIM domains in addition to or instead of P1 sending domains when configuring third-party phishing simulations. Vendors that use large numbers of P1 sending domains in their campaigns can instead sign all domains with one or a few DKIM domains, and the admin just specifies the DKIM domain in the Advanced Delivery policy.

Rollout: late September 2021, completing fully in early October.

Teams: four updates worth a customer mention#

Content from camera projects whiteboards legibly (new feature)#

Users can stream content directly from physical artifacts such as whiteboards and documents in a legible way. During a Teams call, the projection options live under Share > Content from camera. Two key modes:

• Whiteboard mode: point a laptop webcam at a whiteboard and it gets straightened, zoomed, and rendered so the presenter's hand or body does not block content as they write.
• Document mode: attach an external USB camera, such as a document camera mounted over a document, to project it to the audience.

Rollout: late September 2021, completing early October.

Reply to a specific chat message on desktop (new feature)#

Teams desktop users gain the ability to reply to specific chat messages from the message actions menu, bringing more context into conversations. iOS and Android have had this for a while.

Rollout: mid-September 2021, completing early October.

Real-time meeting telemetry for admins, in preview (admin impact)#

Admins can identify, detect, and troubleshoot transient network issues affecting audio, video, and screen-sharing quality while a meeting is still in progress, from the Teams Admin Center. Metrics update every 30 seconds and cover:

• Audio: outbound and inbound audio statistics
• Video: outbound video statistics
• Content sharing: outbound and inbound content sharing statistics

Two ways to reach a user's telemetry:

• Search the person's name in the recent meetings category and click the Meeting ID of the in-progress meeting.
• Click the meeting's participant list and select the participant's name.

Rollout: mid-September 2021, completing late September.

Teams Rooms on Windows catches up to desktop (new feature)#

This applies to Teams meeting rooms only. Microsoft is updating the meeting roster viewable on the Teams Rooms console to align with the current desktop experience, adding participant grouping for instructed meetings, roster sorting by raised hand, integrated user search, and the ability to ask others to join from an invite or chat.

Tapping a participant reveals all meeting controls and settings available for them, depending on role:

Participants can be pinned or spotlighted on stage, up to 9 pinned and 7 spotlighted. Pin is local to the room; spotlight is a global action.

Rollout: late September 2021, completing mid-October.

SharePoint: Viva Connections opens its public preview#

Viva Connections, part of Microsoft Viva, is the gateway to a modern employee experience: a customizable dashboard, the feed, and relevant resources, all inside the Microsoft Teams mobile app.

The public preview includes the ability to:

1. Set a SharePoint home site from the SharePoint admin center
2. Create, author, and manage a dashboard from the home site
3. Use Video news links to communicate announcements
4. Use the new Dashboard and Feed web parts on the home site
5. Brand the Viva Connections app for desktop and for Android and iOS mobile experiences

Note that many customers will see certain Viva Connections features arrive in SharePoint before the app can be enabled in Teams. Microsoft recommends preparing now but enabling the full experience in the Teams admin center after September 20, 2021. More detail: Viva Connections overview (opens in new tab).

Rollout: started September 9, 2021, expected complete by September 20.