Microsoft has recently announced a new pricing strategy for 2025 which will introduce significant changes to their customers, including monthly billing and product licensing.  

As part of their broader strategy to align pricing globally, and to continue delivering value through its services, the changes are being introduced with the aim of standardising pricing structures across all their platforms, ensuring transparency and consistency.  

What are the changes?

Starting from the 1^st April 2025, Microsoft are implementing a 5% price increase on all 365 licenses.  

The following products will be affected: Microsoft 365, Office 365, Enterprise Mobility & Security, Windows 365, Power Platform, Teams Phone Standard, Power BI Pro, Power Bi Premium Per User, and Dynamics 365 Services. This includes any products with standalone licenses.  

All Microsoft 365 customers will be affected by the increase, including businesses using their cloud-based services (such as Teams, Power BI and Enterprise Mobility & Security.)  

All businesses on their monthly billing plans for annual subscriptions will also be affected and while free licences for charities will remain unaffected, paid licenses will still see the 5% increase.  

What can you expect?

From the 1^st April 2025, monthly billing plans for annual subscriptions will be subject to the 5% increase compared to annual billing options – annual billing enables customers to lock in current prices now, avoiding the upcoming increase and providing security knowing the price will remain unchanged for the year ahead.  

If your business is nearing the end of its contract, it might be time to start thinking about transitioning to an annual billing option before the 1^st April deadline so that you can:  

• Secure current rates before the increase.  

• Increase financial stability and avoid being subject to monthly price fluctuations.

• Benefit from a small discount by paying one annual cost rather than the small increase in price that can come from a monthly subscription cost instead.  

Have you considered spreading the cost of your software?

What a lot of businesses don’t know, is that they can benefit from finance solutions for their software, including both recognised off the shelf software products and bespoke/proprietary solutions.  

If you’re concerned about having the capital to make such a large upfront investment, or you don’t want to eat into cash reserves and maintain a healthy cashflow for investment in other areas of the business, we have access to a range of funders that treat software as an asset in its own right, enabling you to consider spreading the cost of your software costs over time and avoid a large upfront cost to your business.  

In addition to physical licenses and contracts, we can also arrange finance for wholly hosted or cloud-based solutions.

The benefits of financing your software

Utilising a finance option to pay for your software enables you to:  

Spread costs in line with fixed payments

Manage your budget more effectively by spreading the cost of the software via fixed and affordable payments (including your VAT, avoiding a large capital outlay), providing financial stability and easier cashflow management.  

Get access to significant tax benefits

Unlike cash, finance can unlock 100% tax relief on both capital expenditure and the interest which can offer notable tax advantages.  

Look at bespoke solutions for software only

Software for your organisation can be leased rather than paid for via a loan.  

Consider bespoke payment structures

Where required we can structure a payment schedule that suits your organisation, e.g., setting repayments to coincide with seasonal fluctuations in income.  

Benefit from a hassle-free End of Term

We finance software on a fixed term lease which simply terminates at the end of the term. There is no requirement to get in touch and manually terminate the agreement.

‍Funding for your business

Bluestone is an ethical and FCA-regulated finance intermediary. We are committed to ensuring that our clients make informed financial decisions based on their requirements and always recommend that our clients seek independent financial advice from an authorised source before committing to any financial agreements.  

If you would like to explore software finance solutions in more detail, get in touch using the enquiry form below, or contact us here. One of our friendly and experienced team will be in touch as soon as possible.

‍

^{Version: BS2025.02.01M365. Last Updated February 2025.}