Microsoft has revamped its Teams Rooms pricing tiers with some fan fair, but is all as it seems?
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The new Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro offers users a comparable set of features to the existing Teams Rooms Premium for $10 cheaper per device. However, the new lower tier is stripping away advanced features, such as Front Row. to create Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic.
Previously, the lower tier contained all of the same features as the upper tier; it just did not have Teams Rooms Managed Services.
If Standard package customers wish to retain many of the features they have been using, they will be forced to pay more than triple the price for them by upgrading to a Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro account.
Smoke and Mirrors
In a side-by-side comparison between Teams Rooms Premium and Teams Rooms Pro, there is not a lot of difference, besides a downgrade to the managed service platform and the promise of more features to come to the Pro package.
With the new features positioned alongside reduced subscription costs, all seems well. The bells and whistles come off for Microsoft’s comparatively short introduction to its Basic plan, however.
The new Basic plan replaces Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard, but it is not nearly as closely aligned as the Pro and Premium. The unsung differences between the Basic and the Standard are where the real story lies for many in the Microsoft community.
The key features of Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic are Microsoft Teams, whiteboarding, and audio conferencing with a maximum of 25 licenses per tenant.
Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard, by comparison, offers features spanning supported experiences, meeting scheduling, meeting join, meeting engagement and collaboration, meeting and device controls, security, management and administration, and managed operations with no unlimited licenses.
As a result of the reduced features, which many companies have become dependent upon over time, they will need to fork out a further $25 per month to retain the features already available to them.
The change in licensing from unlimited to 25 per tenant is another potential roadblock, as many large and medium-sized companies will no longer qualify.
The only redeeming feature for Basic is that it comes free with certified Teams Rooms devices, whereas Teams Rooms Standard incurs a cost of $15 per device.
Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro
Nicole Herskowitz, Vice President of Microsoft Teams, introduced the changes to Teams Rooms: “At Microsoft, we are committed to bridging the gap between physical and digital workspaces.
“More than 60 percent of the Fortune 500 have already chosen Microsoft Teams Rooms to connect employees across the hybrid divide and active Teams Rooms devices have more than doubled year over year.
“Enabling truly great hybrid meetings and collaboration has gone from nice to have to must have.
“Because of this, Microsoft is happy to announce changes to Microsoft Teams Rooms, making it easy to start your hybrid journey.”
Teams Rooms Pro is a new all-in-one license offering, which combines current Teams Rooms features with innovations and the managed service platform.
The features of Teams Rooms Pro include intelligent audio and video with video layout options, such as noise suppression, front row, and bandwidth optimisation. It also has AI camera capabilities to improve meeting experiences, as well as automatic framing.
Engagement features, including live reactions, raise hand, and wireless content sharing, are being imported from Teams to Teams Rooms Pro.
Collaboration tools like Microsoft Whiteboard, Microsoft Surface Hub 2S, content cameras, and more can be integrated into Teams Rooms Pro.
The Pro package also offers enterprise-grade management and security, with IT service management (ITSM) integration, device analytics, remote configuration, and access control.
It also offers the Teams Rooms managed service platform, which provides problem detection, resolution, and automatic updates. From October 1st 2022, Microsoft engineers will not be a part of the incident resolution process. Incidents will be automatically sent to customer IT departments or management partners.
The price point for Teams Rooms Pro subscriptions has been set at $40 per month.
Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic
According to Microsoft, the Basic package is designed to help small businesses access their hybrid meeting experiences.
The features of Teams Rooms Basic include “foundational Teams meeting experiences”, such as wireless content sharing, join meetings, and scheduling.
The Microsoft blog post recommends that users who want more features should opt for a Teams Rooms Pro subscription.
Teams Rooms Basic is included for free with any certified Teams Rooms device purchase, providing purchases have been made on or after September 1st, 2022.
Up to 25 Basic licenses can be applied for per customer tenant.
