Office/Microsoft 365 without Teams since October 2023: What you need to know

As of October 2023, Microsoft has made a significant change to its popular Office/Microsoft 365 package: Teams is no longer included by default. This decision has taken many businesses and users by surprise and raises some questions. In this blog post, we explain the reasoning behind this change, the impact on users and how you can continue to stay productive.

Why was Teams removed from Office/Microsoft 365?

In July 2023, the European Commission announced that it had launched a formal investigation into Microsoft's bundling of Teams with its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 packages for business customers. Microsoft stated: ‘We will continue to work together with the Commission and remain committed to finding solutions that address its concerns.’

In this context, Microsoft announced a proactive change at the end of August 2023 affecting the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

What does this mean for existing users?

If you already use Office/Microsoft 365, nothing will change for you for the time being. Existing subscriptions will continue to include Teams for the duration of your current contract. However, when renewing or taking out new subscriptions, you will need to subscribe to Teams separately or choose a different solution. One option, for example, is to rely on used software licences – because with the purchase of used Microsoft software licences for Office 365 (1 year), you will still receive Teams from us as part of the package.

Background to the decision

These changes are intended to address two of the European Commission's main concerns:

Customers should be able to choose a business suite without Teams at a lower price. Microsoft continues to work to facilitate interoperability between competing communication and collaboration solutions and the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.

Microsoft emphasised that business customers in Europe and worldwide expect modern communication and collaboration features. That is why these features had been integrated into the business suites for more than a decade, starting with Office Communicator in 2007, and further developed by Lync, Skype for Business Online and, most recently, Microsoft Teams.

Reduction of additional costs through used Microsoft licences

Another way to reduce costs generally is to use pre-owned Microsoft licences. Used Microsoft software licences are an excellent option for companies that want to reduce their IT costs without compromising on proven and necessary software. These licences are legal and offer the same functionality as new licences, but at a significantly lower price.