After announcing record revenues in Australia and the sacking of up to 200 staff in recent months, Microsoft has moved to snare a 9% increase in the cost of licencing their software.

The shock move comes as businesses struggle to manage costs and rising interest rates on loans and mortgages as well as manage a workforce who want to work remotely.

Inflation is only 6% in Australia with Microsoft accused of price gouging Australian business.

In a statement sent to ChannelNews, the big US software Company who had profits last year of $132.4 million in Australia on revenues of $6.3 billion claims that from 1st September 2023, Microsoft will increase Australian dollar prices by 9% for both Cloud & On-Premises licenses to align with global pricing.

This covers services such as Microsoft Office, Project Manager or the likes of Dynamics 365 as well as a host of other Microsoft software services.

Microsoft resellers including the likes of Telstra and Brennan IT are telling customers who use Microsoft services that if their licenses are under an annual commitment, current pricing will remain the same throughout this period (regardless of whether you are billed monthly or paid upfront).

The price increase of 9% will be applied at the renewal of the commitment period.

If a license is not under an annual commitment (i.e., month to month with no committed term), the 9% increase will be applied from 1st September 2023.

There are several license types that will be affected, including NCE & Legacy CSP Cloud Services, as well as Open Value, Open Value Subscription and other On-Prem licenses claims Brennan IT.

Microsoft PR has not commented on the move or issued a press release.