Microsoft 365 will reduce the storage volume of its offers from February 1, 2024

For ecological and security reasons, certain Microsoft 365 plans will undergo a slimming treatment. The culprits: files lost and forgotten forever.

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) has become one of the essential productivity solutions for businesses and academies. Many employees and students use it on a daily basis, with relatively few restrictions, especially when it comes to storage space.

But times are changing and the Redmond firm announced last August that some of its subscribers would have to sort out their storage space.

Schools will have to tighten their belts

Office 365 A1 plans will be a little less attractive than before. From August 2024, educational institutions will be limited to 100 TB of storage space to share between OneDrive, SharePoint and Exchange. Per capita, the limits will be 100 GB for OneDrive, and 50 GB for Exchange.

For Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 plans, the limits will be 1 TB for each user on OneDrive, and 100 GB on Exchange. However, in the latter cases, each paying user will contribute an additional 50 and 100 GB to the pool, respectively.

Institutions have some time to adapt and clean up, as these changes will take effect from 1^er August 2024, when the contracts will be renewed. However, those who have difficulty tightening their belts will be able to pay an additional 300 euros per month for each additional 10 TB.

Time is running out a little more for A1 plan users, as these new restrictions will be put in place from… 1^er February 2024, that is to say in a few days. This is only the first amputation that the most accessible plan of Microsoft 365 will undergo, since the Office 365 A1 Plus plan, which gives limited access to Office applications and services for free, will be removed at the beginning of August.

Safety and the environment at the heart of concerns

Why is Microsoft forcing schools to do a terabyte detox? In addition to a possible search for savings which has not been mentioned, the American giant cites two reasons: safety and the impact on the environment. In the first case, the proliferation of unused files and accounts would expose establishments and their students to an increased risk of data breaches, according to Microsoft. “ Increased technology consumption in education has made free, unlimited storage plans prohibitively expensive and a major driver of security and fraud risks. », Explains the company.

For the second case, the culprit would obviously be the same: “ Stored files that are no longer in use impact our carbon footprint, with more than half of data stored by organizations having no use “. While this decision will not only make people happy, it is part of a more global approach by the American firm to reduce its impact on the environment.

However, these changes will have some positive effects for schools. To help them sort and identify poor performers, Microsoft has improved the tools available to administrators. The latter will receive reports on inactive users and will at the same time be able to more easily identify the biggest consumers of storage space.

Concerning personal packages, no changes are on the horizon. However, users are gradually being forced to put their hands in their pockets. By encouraging Xbox players to save their screenshots on OneDrive, and at the same time requiring the storage of Outlook data, the service’s free 5 GB storage space appears more and more limited. It remains to be seen whether things will continue to evolve in this direction in the months to come.

Source : ITespresso