Microsoft 365 Business Basic
The basic plan gives your company what is heavily a cloud-only environment, accessing your applications only on the web and with mobile. This is good if you need something lean, have limited storage, and don’t want to install applications traditionally. Along with Word and Excel, you also get Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
For instance, if you had a remote contractor, we provide them a business email and grant them access to your cloud environment. Microsoft 365 Business basic has the lowest price point of these plans.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
This is the most common plan for small businesses seeking tools that allow for remote work.
Business Standard comes with all the traditional office applications, along with SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Exchange, as well as Publisher and Access, though the last two are for PC only.
Your applications can connect with third-party plugins. For instance, Outlook connects with the HubSpot CRM system. You will receive physical applications that require installation, improving performance. Then you have the freedom to use apps even without an active internet connection.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Along with the applications and features that came with Business Standard, you get Microsoft Intune with mobile device management (MDM).
Having Intune and MDM does have mobile capabilities, so you can manage your PC and Windows 10 from certain mobile devices. You use this capability in situations where your organization had to manage multiple users and provided them with devices. Intune lets you restrict their access and create policies to limit what they can do. Business Premium also adds Azure information protection.
Microsoft 365 Apps
Apps are the simplest of the Microsoft 365 business plans. You get office applications and OneDrive. The Microsoft Office applications install locally.
You don’t get the actual email address that comes with Microsoft Exchange, so you could still use Outlook to check emails connected elsewhere. A typical use case for this is when you use G-Suite, but you still prefer to use Microsoft 365 Applications.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise Plans
If you want Microsoft Sway or Yammer, your organization has to go with a Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan.
Business plans also only allow your company to have a maximum user count of 300, after that, time to transition to the enterprise.
Microsoft 365 E3
First, enterprise-level plans gain access to applications that don’t come with the previously mentioned business plans. Enterprise-specific applications like Azure Active Directory or Windows Stream improve productivity and allow for ease of collaboration.
Information Protection Premium 1 helps you proactively protect your data, employees, and private customer information.
Microsoft 365 E5
With E5, your organization gets access to Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection and Advanced Compliance. Additional features include Microsoft E-Discovery, Customer Lockbox, Events Data Governance, and service encryption with customer key. Another significant upgrade is Azure Information Protection P2, which grants you software development capabilities through a software development kit (SDK).
Microsoft 365 F3
The primary benefit of Microsoft 365 F3 is Azure Active Directory P1, Microsoft Teams, and Advanced Threat Analytics. It provides your business with the ability to operate entirely on the cloud at the scale of an enterprise level.
Microsoft 365 Licensing Details
For both Business and Enterprise editions of Microsoft 365, each user gains access to Office on up to 5 PCs/Mac devices, 5 tables, and 5 phones.
When you purchased, you have to specify licenses (users), typically based on how many people you have working.
Keep in mind that Business plans have a maximum of 300 users. Your organization can have more than one subscription, and you can assign different licenses to different employees. But a user can only have one type of license at a time.
For example, executives can have an E3 subscription, while data entry specialists get Business Standard. Meanwhile, John Smith from IT can’t have both an F3 and a Business Apps Subscription.
Even if a lower-level user doesn’t have access, they can view and edit files. Business plans subscriptions can be paid for on a monthly or annual basis, while Enterprise plans will be annual commitments.
Microsoft 365 vs G Suite: Which Is Better?
A good way to look at G-Suite is that it is leaner than Microsoft 365 and yet still powerful. G-Suite is available only via the cloud, Microsoft 365 still gives the option to install applications traditionally.
Since G-Suite is limited to the cloud, it can be simpler and easier to manage than Microsoft 365, at least in certain aspects. In most cases, G-Suite is also more cost-effective, though Microsoft gives more at Business Premium. It’s at that level Microsoft 365 really becomes more robust, providing mobile device management capabilities with Intune.
While G-Suite has advanced over the years, it’s still primarily utilized as a suite of productivity applications. Google has outside services that handle cloud infrastructure and compliance needs.
Why did Office 365 was changed to Microsoft 365 Business? It grew beyond a set of office applications. G-Suite is moving in that direction with products like G-Suite Enterprise but still centered around the cloud and its security. Many businesses end up using Microsoft 365 because devices are already running on Microsoft Windows 10, so it makes sense.
Is Microsoft 365 Right for Your Business?
Commprise is here to help you gain clarity. With our Managed IT Services, we’ll help you find out which solutions and services will be best suited to serve your company. And whether you decide to go with Microsoft 365 or G-Suite, we’ll be able to manage your preferred productivity suite and the services that go with it.