In this post, Unleashed would like to help you to leverage your investment in Office 365.

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not make it easy for you to choose the right package for your business. In fact, you probably didn’t know that Office 365 is now called Microsoft 365 and to find out exactly how you can leverage all the benefits of M365 is a minefield, so let us help you.

Microsoft 365 is moving away from being just email and office applications. As the whole world now knows, remote working is essential, and moving your whole IT infrastructure onto a digital platform is key. Especially, as more of us work from home due to the current pandemic.

So, with this in mind, what exactly can we now get from Microsoft 365?

With the move from Office 365 to Microsoft 365, each product is licensed under a different name. Also, this is also be governed by the size of your business. If you have up to 300 users up stay under the business model if you have over 300 then you move into the enterprise space. However, for your first 300, you can licence on the business model and for users 301 and above they have to have Enterprise licenses. You can also mix and match what licence package each user has depending on their requirements.

With new features, Microsoft has become more business focussed, and that is what we will focus on. Some of these new features are available in your current license, some are add-on costs and some are a licence upgrade.

If you would like to explore what is available we are happy to help, just get in touch. It can get very confusing!

So what is included in the Microsoft 365?

Business Standard licence – the most popular, currently £9.40 per month on an annual commit

  • You get the full Microsft office applications – Exchange, outlook, word, excel, powerpoint, publisher and access
  • You get the collaboration package, this enables you to start using SharePoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams which include 1TB of data storage per user

Business Premium package – This is where you really start to get value for money and this is priced at £15.10 per user

  • You get everything above plus
  • In-Tune to manage all of your PC users.
  • Azure Information Protection (AIP) – This allows IT admins to protect documents and email by applying labels. This increases security by limiting access to certain files and folders.
  • Advanced Threat Protection – Protect against viruses and phishing emails (Ransomeware)
  • Remotely wipe data from company devices
  • Restrict the copying or saving of data to unauthorised apps (GDPR)
  • Information rights management
  • Enable cloud archiving
  • PC and mobile device management

Then you can start to add Business Process Management application to Microsoft 365 as you move to digital transformation.

  • Reduce manual paperwork – you can use Forms to replace time-consuming tasks within your business
  • Capture insights – Create surveys, polls and questionnaires. This means you can gather vital business information from customers and staff
  • Power Automate allows for repetitive tasks to be automated using bots.
  • Integrate all the above into Microsoft Teams as an easy to use and manage front end application

Once you have decided what you want to do and how Microsoft 365 can help. Your next step is to start to work out the licences you require, and these can be a combination. Then implement the digital changes you have decided upon. Then train your users on the new applications! Or, you can let Unleashed leverage your investment in Office 365. Give us a call and we could advise the best route and take you along your new digital journey.

For more details, you can contact us or phone on 0333 240 0565