Most Omaha businesses are overpaying for Microsoft 365 licensing, and they don’t know it.
Seats accumulate, subscriptions renew automatically, and the invoice clears without much scrutiny. It’s a pattern that’s easy to overlook when your team is busy, and it’s precisely how unused licenses build up over time.
Microsoft has confirmed that commercial pricing for Microsoft 365 will change effective July 1, 2026, for both new and renewing customers.
Now is a practical time for Omaha businesses to review their Microsoft 365 management, understand what they’re paying for, and make sure their cloud services setup still fits before the new rates apply.
What’s Changing with Microsoft 365 Pricing?
The price increase applies to Office 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Business, Frontline, and standalone products. Existing customers remain on current pricing until their next renewal after July 1.
Microsoft’s pricing updates show that Business Basic will rise from $6 to $7 per user per month, and Business Standard will rise from $12.50 to $14. For a 50-person team on Business Standard, that could mean roughly $900 more per year at Microsoft list pricing.
Microsoft is adding stronger security, broader IT management, and new AI features to every suite as part of these updates. These upgrades now sit inside the suites rather than behind separate add-ons.
For many Omaha businesses, the more pressing question is whether the current setup reflects what people actually need day to day.
Are You Paying for Licenses Your Business Doesn’t Need?
For most small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), the honest answer is probably some of them.
This is because Microsoft 365 licensing tends to drift over time, accounts stay active for previous staff, and temporary licenses added for a project never get cleaned up. The result is a setup that doesn’t reflect how the team operates.
The most common patterns we see when reviewing Microsoft 365 environments for Omaha businesses include:
- Inactive accounts still assigned to paid licenses, often belonging to former employees or contractors whose access was never removed
- Over-provisioned plans where users have Business Premium when Business Basic would cover everything their role requires
- Duplicate functionality where Microsoft 365 features overlap with separate subscriptions the business is still running alongside them
- Temporary licenses that were added for a project or a busy period and were simply never removed
According to recent industry research, only 54% of SaaS licenses are actively used in the average enterprise, resulting in $19.8M in wasted spend annually.
Microsoft 365 is rarely an exception. For Omaha businesses approaching a renewal, a structured Microsoft 365 licensing review gives you a clear picture of what’s live, what’s being used, and where plans can be right-sized before the new pricing applies.
Reducing Costs Shouldn’t Mean Reducing Protection
While adjusting licensing is a sensible step, making changes without checking what each plan actually covers is where businesses run into problems.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Business, Intune for device management, and Microsoft Entra ID Premium features – tools that lower-tier plans don’t carry.
If a cost review leads to downgrading users who depend on those capabilities, without a replacement in place, the business ends up more exposed.
The goal of a Microsoft 365 management review should be a leaner setup that is just as secure. That means mapping each user’s role and risk profile before making any licensing changes and confirming that cybersecurity coverage remains intact across the whole environment.
Microsoft 365 Is Part of a Wider Cloud Picture
A renewal review is a natural opportunity to look at the broader cloud setup, particularly areas that tend to get overlooked when no one is actively managing them. A few questions worth asking before your next renewal include:
- Is your Microsoft 365 data backed up independently, or are you relying solely on Microsoft’s default retention policies?
- Have SharePoint permissions, Teams structures, or user access policies been reviewed recently?
- Do your cloud tools integrate in a way that gives your IT team clear visibility, or are there blind spots?
- Is your cloud environment set up to scale with your business without generating unnecessary cost?
Microsoft 365 is at the center of most Omaha businesses’ daily operations.
Getting the licensing right has real value on its own, but pairing that with a review of backup, security, and cloud management means the whole environment is working exactly as it should.
How HubWise Helps Omaha Businesses Get More Before Renewal
HubWise works with businesses across Omaha to review their Microsoft 365 environment, right-size licensing, and identify improvements before renewal costs increase. That includes:
- Reviewing active and inactive licenses, identifying accounts that should be removed or reassigned before the next billing cycle
- Checking plan assignments, to make sure each user is on the tier their role requires
- Assessing security coverage, flagging any gaps that a plan change could introduce before any changes are made
- Looking at cloud backup and access management, as part of a broader review of the environment beyond the Microsoft 365 license count
- Helping you understand your renewal timeline so you know what decisions need to be made and when
There’s no pressure to overhaul everything. The aim is a clear, honest picture of what you have, what you need, and where your business is spending more than it should.
Book Your Free Discovery Call
Not sure whether your Microsoft 365 setup is still the right fit?
Book a free discovery call to review where your business may be overspending, carrying unnecessary risk, or missing value from the cloud tools you already have.
FAQs
- What is changing about Microsoft 365’s pricing in 2026?
Microsoft has confirmed that commercial pricing for Microsoft 365 will increase from July 1, 2026. For Omaha businesses, now is a practical time to review their Microsoft 365 licensing. - How do I know if my business is paying for Microsoft 365 licenses we don’t need?
Common signs include active licenses assigned to former employees, users on higher-tier plans than their role requires, and licenses that were added temporarily and never removed. A structured Microsoft 365 licensing review with an IT provider in Omaha gives you a clear picture of where plans can be right-sized before your next renewal. - Can reducing Microsoft 365 licenses affect our security?
It can, if changes are made without reviewing what each plan includes. Microsoft 365 Business Premium carries security features such as Microsoft Defender for Business and Intune that lower-tier plans don’t include. A Microsoft 365 management review should assess user roles and coverage before making changes. - What should Omaha businesses check before their Microsoft 365 renewal?
Before renewal, it’s worth reviewing active and inactive licenses, checking plan tiers, confirming how Microsoft 365 data is backed up, and assessing whether access settings have drifted. A Microsoft 365 support provider in Omaha can give you clear recommendations before the July 2026 pricing changes take effect. - What business cloud services should sit alongside Microsoft 365?
Business cloud services alongside Microsoft 365 typically include independent backup for Microsoft 365 data, endpoint management, user access and identity controls, and ongoing cloud management. HubWise provides cloud services in Omaha that cover all of these areas as part of a broader review.