Microsoft announced a new commerce experience for Azure last fall, referred to as Modern Commerce. In this article, we answer a few frequently asked questions related to Modern Commerce to help you understand what the change could mean for you and your business.
As you might’ve heard, Microsoft announced a new commerce experience for Azure last fall, referred to as Modern Commerce. Here are a few frequently asked questions related to Modern Commerce:
What contractual changes were made?
Partners and customers now sign perpetual agreements that are designed to simplify and streamline the purchasing experience. Microsoft deprecated the Microsoft Cloud Agreement and replaced it with the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Now, every customer signs the Microsoft Customer Agreement regardless of the channel they license through. Additionally, all partners sign the Microsoft Partner Agreement. These changes were effective February 1, 2020.
What is Azure Plan?
In Microsoft Partner Center, the Modern Commerce experience takes form by way of the Azure Plan. Now, partners purchase an Azure Plan under the new agreement. When an Azure Plan is purchased, a subscription is created by default underneath it, and then additional subscriptions can be added under the same Azure Plan.
The Azure Plan provides partners with access to all Azure services at pay-as-you-go rates, instead of partners being billed for Azure services at a discounted rate. Through this new experience, partners are rewarded with a partner earned credit if they manage cloud operations for their customers 24×7.
Does CloudHealth support Modern Commerce?
Yes! For CloudHealth, Modern Commerce created a new billing construct in Azure, with a hierarchy of billing resources such as Billing Profiles, Billing Accounts, and Invoice sections. As a result, we needed to update the platform to support this new structure. We spent a few months working with our partners to test the changes to asset collection, reporting, and invoicing, and now the CloudHealth platform supports Modern Commerce for our Azure partners and customers.
To learn more about how CloudHealth supports Modern Commerce sign up for a free demo.
You can also see more information about managing your Azure environment in our eBook: How to Gain Control of Your Azure Environment
