A lot of prices have gone up lately: petrol, house prices, and even that controversial yeasty toast topper, Marmite. Maybe the blame lies with Brexit, or just industry greed, but whatever the reason, price rises are big news at the moment. Unfortunately for the computer user, price hikes have also affected products by computing giant Microsoft.
In an October 2016 blog post, Microsoft announced that they’d be increasing their prices, explaining that it had taken the steps “to ensure there is reasonable alignment across the region (Europe)”. These increases will see 13% increases on business software, and 22% on cloud based software. While they won’t be implementing these price increases until contract renewal time, with many thousands of UK businesses deeply reliant on Microsoft software, it seems like many customers are sitting ducks.
Commonly used products, such as those found within the Office suite of products, i.e. Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint, many of which are viewed as industry standard, are likely to be affected by the price changes.
The UK isn’t the only one to be hit with this sort of announcement in 2016. In April, customers in Norway and Switzerland, who use the Krone and Swiss Franc rather than the Euro, were told to expect price changes. A government cabinet officer told The Independent that they’d do their best to work with any supplier to mitigate price increases and get the best value for UK customers.
Domestic consumers won’t be affected by these changes, so it seems as if the business world will be the one bearing the brunt of the price hikes.
If you’re looking to keep your prices low to counteract price hikes in a world where everything seems to be getting more expensive, Absolutely PC are computer support specialists who can help with your IT needs, without increasing your outgoings. If you’re planning to make changes to the software you use, or want advice on the best way to go forward, give us a call and we’ll talk you through your options. Unlike Marmite, there’s no “love it or hate it” about our services: everyone wins with Absolutely PC on board.