Businesses looking to migrate to Microsoft Office 365 have plenty of options. They must choose between Business and Enterprise subscriptions, and between those service families they have to decide on Business Essentials, Premium, Enterprise E1, E3, and E5.
Choose the wrong one, and you may end up with a plan that doesn’t add value to your company at all, and nobody wants that. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a quick summary of each subscription model to help you choose the one that’s best for your business.
Business Essentials
If you’re running a small business with fewer than 15 employees, Office 365 Business Essentials is a good plan to get you started. As the cheapest of the “Business” subscriptions, this plan offers online versions of Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, 1 TB of file storage, HD video conferencing, and a 50-GB mailbox.
Business
Office 365 Business provides companies with local installations of Office applications. Like Business Essentials, this subscription comes with 1TB of file storage plus sharing and online access to Office applications. The downside, however, is that email services, online meetings, and Microsoft Teams (a chat-based collaboration platform) are not included. In our opinion, this offering is better suited for small businesses that don’t intend to have remote workers.
Business Premium
By upgrading to the top-tier Business plan, users get desktop apps, mobile apps, email services, file storage and sharing, and HD video conferencing. In other words, you get all the features of Business Essentials and Business in one plan.
For most small businesses, any of the three plans provides plenty of productivity-enhancing features. But if you’re looking for a feature-rich offering that can support over 50+ employees, then consider the following Enterprise plans.
ProPlus
Much like Office 365 Business, the ProPlus plan offers a full suite of Office applications -- including Word, Skype for Business, and OneDrive -- but does not provide email services. What’s unique about ProPlus is it comes with access management, data loss prevention, and business intelligence solutions..
Enterprise E1
Enterprise E1 is similar to Business Essentials in that it gives you access to online versions of Office, a 50-GB mailbox, and video conferencing. However, the cheapest Enterprise plan also includes additional features like SharePoint Team Sites, company-wide document search, and data management policies that automate the archival and disposal of sensitive documents.
Enterprise E3
For companies looking for a bit more bang for their buck, the Enterprise E3 model might be the answer. For the mid-range price tag, you get the client versions of Office applications ProPlus and the data management policies of E1, plus encryption services, data protection tools, and hosted voicemail support.
Enterprise E5
The last service offering is Enterprise E5, a full enterprise-grade solution that contains all the features of the other plans. And although it’s the most expensive option, E5 includes advanced business analytic tools like Power BI and Microsoft MyAnalytics; flexible Skype for business conferencing; advanced threat protection and security management; and enhanced deployment capabilities for Office 365.
Making the decision
When it comes to finding an Office 365 subscription that’s right for you, assess your organization’s needs first. Do you require email services, the Office productivity suite, SharePoint, data analytics, Skype for Business, enhanced security protections, or all of the above?
Then, once you understand your requirements, talk to a trusted managed IT services provider like IntelligISTM to guide you.
If you’re having trouble deciding which Office 365 subscription plan goes with your business, our Office 365 professionals in Atlanta can help. Simply visit www.intelligis.com and we’ll discuss your options.
