Microsoft is increasing the level of included services to qualifying Dynamics CRM customers by providing a free non-production instance of Dynamics CRM Online as well as free additional storage space.
With Dynamics CRM Online 2013 (Fall 2013 Update), Microsoft is providing a free non-production CRM Online instance that an organization can use for testing, training, development, or other non-production use without disturbing their production Dynamics CRM Online organization. Customers with 25 or more Professional licenses qualify, while customers with fewer than 25 Professional licenses can purchase a non-production instance for $150 per month. Once the non-production instance is available, administrators can set up security groups to control which instances (production and non-production) each user can access. Existing customers with 25 or more Professional licenses will automatically receive the additional instance when they are upgraded to CRM Online 2013.
Now organizations do not have the risk of making modifications directly to the production instance of Dynamics CRM Online. Instead, when changes are required administrators can develop modifications, test the changes, and train the users on the non-production instance before rolling out the changes to the production instance. In this way, changes can be better planned resulting in lower risk to the organization.
Also with Dynamics CRM Online 2013, Microsoft is providing additional free storage on top of the 5 GB of storage that comes with the subscription. For every increment of 20 Professional licenses purchased, Microsoft will increase your storage by 2.5 GB up to 50 GB. For example, an organization with 80 licenses would have 15 GB of storage (5 GB + 2.5 GB for each set of 20 licenses) included in their subscription. Customers who need more storage than their subscription provides can purchase additional storage for $10 per month per GB. Microsoft will automatically add the storage to qualifying organizations’ subscriptions once they are upgraded to Dynamics CRM 2013 Online. Note that if licenses are later canceled to levels below the thresholds described above, Microsoft will decrease the free storage limits.
More users generally means more data and therefore more required storage space. Microsoft recognizes this and automatically increases included storage as users are added, for no additional cost. Thanks Microsoft! All this is explained in greater detail in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Pricing and Licensing Quick Reference Guide available .
If your organization needs assistance with making the most of a non-production instance or additional storage for your Dynamics CRM Online subscription, please contact the experts at NexusTek at 303.773.6464 or .
by Nexus Tek, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner
