Confused About Office 365 Licensing?

Here’s What You Need to Know!

The Microsoft Office suite of tools has been the backbone of thousands of companies across the world for almost 30 years. Without it, many businesses would be lost, and we’d still live in the stone ages of word processing and accounting. Things were easy for a while, but ever since Microsoft implemented the Office 365 licensing system, business professionals across the world deal with headaches trying to determine the right subscription plan that will solve all of their needs.

The Benefits of Office 365

With so many plans available, it can be somewhat challenging to narrow down the choice that would work well for your business with minor disruptions due to installations and licensing. Fortunately, licensing and installing Office 365 isn’t as complicated as you might think once you select the right plan that provides the solutions you need. There are quite a few to choose from ranging from Home all the way to Enterprise. You’ll want the most connectivity options with the full-featured programs you’ve come to know and love so an Enterprise plan is probably the solution you need. Here are a few of the features included in the Enterprise plans that will greatly benefit your company:

E1, E3, or E5?

All three of the plans are robust and are fantastic solutions to handle your day-to-day business needs, but the two highest tiers offer features that are worth their weight in digital gold when it comes to data protection and storage. For one, in the E1 package, you won’t get the Office programs you know and love. It simply features the add-on services like OneDrive, SharePoint, and Yammer.

With E3, you’ll not only get the great add-ons, but you’ll also have full access to the desktop Office applications, along with different document management functions not found in lower tiers. This includes archiving, data loss prevention, and document-level encryption. For enhanced security and risk reduction, this is a great choice.

E5 is the top of the line plan, and along with all of the great features found in E3, you’ll also have enhanced security features and access to Microsoft’s Business Intelligence tools. With these tools, you can take a close look at all of the data you have stored in Microsoft’s cloud storage servers. Also, if you are interested in ditching your phone provider in favor of Skype for Business, with E5, it is simple to do so with E5.

Online and Offline Access

Out of all of the hassle that business owners face with Office 365, Office Online is surprisingly useful for many companies—as long as they have consistent internet access. Office Online is meant to compete with Google Docs and other online office platforms. It’s free, so you won’t have to worry about paying for licenses for your fleet of office computers, and it features handy tools to encourage collaboration. The best feature might be the default auto-save function, which could potentially save thousands of headaches down the road.

OneDrive

Included in many of the Office 365 plans is access to OneDrive, an online storage system for your most important files and documents. With OneDrive, you’ll have instant access to your files on any device at any time. One of the other awesome features of OneDrive is the ramped- up security to keep your data safe from hackers without losing any connectivity. With OneDrive, you can also share your documents with others quickly and easily which is sure to help boost productivity and collaboration.

Improved Security

You want to make sure that all of your business data is kept safe and secure which is why the Office 365 Enterprise plans include security features you would typically have to pay extra for elsewhere. Most notably in the Enterprise packages, you will have access to secure cloud storage using not only OneDrive, but also apps like Yammer and SharePoint. If you plan to store massive amounts of data in the cloud, choosing an Enterprise plan will give you the storage and most importantly, the security you need.

Other Fantastic Add-Ons

To help keep your data safe, here are a few add-ons you should consider purchasing with your Office 365 subscription:

Archiving: Email archiving is crucial if you want to protect your intellectual property or if you’re mandated to store your email by regulatory enforcement. With this add-on, you can retain and store robust amounts of email data in a secure archive for you to recover in an instant when you need it.

Office 365 Backup: This add-on will give you quick and easy access to all of your files and prevent potential data loss. You’ll be able to see a snapshot of your mailboxes so you never miss a message, and you can easily view the files on all of your devices and quickly restore them should you ever lose your laptop or another device. When you add backup to your package it gives you peace of mind and allows you to stay productive knowing you can instantly find and rapidly restore any lost Office 365 data.