Microsoft 365 Licensing is a hard subject even for people in the IT business. This is mainly due to the large number of licensing tiers that most companies don’t take the time and the effort to fully look into.
Every business has its own unique needs when we’re speaking of digital document management systems and the respective licensing, granting employees the necessary access to these. This is why Microsoft 365 has offered a variety of different bundles to their prospective customers based on their specific requirements. As a result, we see an enormous catalog of choices, which may be slightly difficult to get your head around, if only just getting to know about the service packages by Microsoft.
Cloud desktop solutions like Desktop-as-a-Service are a great resolution to your problems when choosing the right bundle for your business because you get included licensing without having to worry about overpaying for features that you don’t really need.
Microsoft 365 Vs. Office 365
There is a world of difference between these two Microsoft subscription suites when it comes to the license plans included within. Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft 365 and Office 365 do not offer the same or similar license plans for businesses. In addition to that, the biggest difference between the two, which also puts Microsoft 365 at a serious advantage over its rival office suite, is its compatibility with the cloud. Office 365 cannot be integrated into your cloud desktop solution and it has lesser capabilities in terms of data security and added productivity features.
What are the Microsoft 365 Plans for Business, Education, and Enterprise?
When moving to the cloud, you are at a much better place with making full use of Microsoft 365, without worrying about licensing and suitable plans. Generally speaking, if you need to know about the different types of subscription packages within M365 for Businesses, there are four separate classes: Basic, Standard, Premium, and Apps for Business. For Enterprises, there are another three service bundles known as E3, E5, and Apps for Enterprise. Last but not least, we must mention the Education plan from Microsoft 356, which is made especially for the academic needs of teachers and students.
What do you actually get with your M365 licensing?
It’s important to know what you actually receive from Microsoft 365 as you go into a specific service package. The good news is that M365 offers a range of different licensing bundles, including Office 365, which also cannot be deployed from the cloud. If you, however, choose to go down the road of using cloud-hosted solutions, you will get your Microsoft 365 licensing as part of your managed services subscription. Third-party cloud providers like we-IT determine the individual needs of your company based on the size of your organization and your specific requirements. Then we deploy the Microsoft productivity suite to each and every employee in their virtual workstation free of charge.
One thing you must know is that Enterprise plans are usually provided for companies of larger size, while they have better security features and higher overall functionality to ensure smooth operation at all endpoint devices. This does not mean fewer benefits for smaller companies using Microsoft 365 Business plans. Business licensing also gives you a highly functional service, allowing you to have over 300 users working with the suite simultaneously, without experiencing any issues.
If you want to know more about the security features integrated with the Enterprise plans, you can look into Office 365 Advanced Threat and Microsoft Intune and what these have to offer to bigger companies using the service.
Tailored Approach
As a cloud vendor, we are responsible for making sure that all of our client’s needs are met at all times. This includes providing full Microsoft 365 licensing that answers the individual requirements of your company. We offer a free consultation regarding your M365 plan and the types of features that need to be integrated into the service package of your cloud desktop solution.
Why is Licensing so important?
Using a cloud desktop solution like DaaS solves all your problems, but what if you aren’t. In that case, you will need to familiarize yourself better with the different licensing plans that Microsoft 365 has to offer so that you are not spending company money on a subscription package you don’t really need. Finding a good compromise between price and functionality will be the direction you should be heading towards when choosing the right bundle. At the end of the day, you want to keep your employees’ productivity high, without overspending, but increasing your profitability instead!