ActivePlatform 5.9: the next step to Microsoft NCE

JANUARY 20, 2022: ActivePlatform, the market player in automated cloud service brokerage systems, released version 5.9 of its cloud sales automation platform.

In this version, we extended the Microsoft New Commerce Experience program's support and also introduced signing in to the Customer Control Panel with a Google account.

We implemented a handy tool for the automatic generation of Microsoft NCE plans using the Microsoft price list. Resellers can save much time by skipping routine manual operations using our new tool.

The Microsoft NCE program includes hundreds of independent software products and add-ons. Most of them are available under different billing terms and durations (P1M Monthly, P1Y Monthly, and P1Y Annual). Together, they include many offers to be translated into ActivePlatform as separate plans. A new plan generator automatically fetches data from the Microsoft price list, applies the selected reseller's preferred settings, consistently names Microsoft NCE plans using a template, and group them in convenient categories.

All operations take less than five minutes and guarantee zero errors in the applied billing terms by excluding the human factor. Once it is done, a Microsoft cloud reseller is ready to start selling Office 365 or Windows 365 via ActivePlatform.

ActivePlatform 5.9 fully adopts a new Microsoft NCE cancellation policy and makes it transparent for customers. While Microsoft CSP is moving to "legacy", the cancellation policy is one of the most anticipated changes in the Microsoft NCE program. Customers can cancel their subscription within the first 72 hours after purchase and get a full refund within the first day.

We added a dedicated message to a sales order page where users configure their new Microsoft NCE subscriptions to clearly translate the refund billing rules throughout the subscription lifecycle. The same message and countdown timer are displayed on a Microsoft NCE subscription page.

We also tuned the subscription renewal process for the Microsoft NCE program requirements. It did not affect the user interface, but some mechanisms under the hood now work better to ensure subscriptions are renewed and billed correctly after manually stopping and activation.

Customers who have ActivePlatform and Google accounts with the same email can now smoothly sign in to their ActivePlatform self-service portal via Google. This feature is only the first of the upcoming closer integration of our cloud brokerage platform and Google.

The platform understands more error codes issued by Microsoft and can display more specific instructions for customers and managers. As a result, it is now clearer what happened and to fix it without calling the technical support team.

Customers keen on verifying all payment descriptions for postpaid subscriptions will notice that we added more numbers explaining the calculations on a payment page. The quantity and unit price of purchased resources are now accompanied by the covered period (in months) so that the result of their multiplying equals the target amount. Previously, this feature was available for prepaid subscriptions only.

ActivePlatform is a full-service automated cloud brokering solution for cloud service providers and internal IT hubs that makes it easier to manage and control the cloud delivery and profitability. ActivePlatform unites vendors, providers, developers, and resellers into a single ecosystem for buying, selling, and managing cloud services. With its open vendor integration framework, ActivePlatform creates a vibrant catalog of cloud services ultimately helping businesses gain access to the services they need to thrive.

ActivePlatform enables SaaS, PaaS, IaaS aggregation, delivery, and monetization, provides simplified administration through central management, and enables critical visibility into resellers and cloud services consumption and usage. The platform has implementations with distributors, cloud solution providers, and telecom operators. ActivePlatform is headquartered in Europe.