RMT Tech Talk – Microsoft 365 licences, Email and OneDrive explained?

Microsoft 365 licencing is, to some, a complex set of products and its not always obvious to the business owner what they are getting for their money. So, here’s a quick guide to each of the plans and who they might be suitable for:

Microsoft 365 Business Basic. Useful for front line workers needing just web and mobile access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Teams Microsoft Exchange for your Business Email and Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint for file sharing. Note you do not get the desktop versions of these Office Products.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Useful for typical information workers needing desktop and web versions of Office. This is what many users will be used to and interestingly may find it difficult to switch to the web only versions.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Useful for larger business or those with advanced and sensitive data users as it contains the web and desktop versions of Office plus additional security controls.

There are other plans available that you can add on to existing plans. So, for example if you need the web versions of Office plus some enhanced security features, then you can add on a P1 or P2 licence.

Email hosting by Microsoft.

One product you do get with all the plans is email hosting by Microsoft. So, if you still have an old Exchange server you should be considering looking to move email from there to a Microsoft Plan as this will remove an admin overhead which is probably larger than the subscription itself. Don’t forget you should also add in a Microsoft 365 backup product to this email product.

Likewise, if your email is hosted by a third party such as your domain hosting provider or web site hosting provider and you have Microsoft licences already, then you can greatly simplify your set up, and possibly costs, by moving your mail to Microsoft. This could save cost but will save admin and, often, provide you with better access to your email.

OneDrive for Business.

Similarly, if you have typical file sharing needs and no heavy network applications or database requirements, your file sharing needs can often be managed perfectly well with OneDrive for Business. In simple terms, imagine your network folder structure (e.g., p:\admin\products\ which is your network address) existing in Microsoft servers accessed via a web address instead (e.g., \onedrive-yourcompany\admin\products). With the benefits of simpler admin, more and better security than you can muster on your server, resilience.

Once you have made this leap in your understanding you will see there is less need for on premise servers and, with the benefit of access anytime anywhere via the web, the added flexibility this brings will increase productivity and ease administration.

Conclusion.

So, to conclude, for many small businesses choosing the right Microsoft Plan is crucial to providing the right users with the right Office apps, email, and file sharing capabilities. It simplifies the network set up, provides an opportunity to replace old server and provides flexible and scalable ways of working.

For more information and a demo of OneDrive, please contact RMT Technology 01912569550