[Office for SMEs] What is Microsoft 365 Business Premium?

With the end of support for Office 2019 approaching in 2023, many people may be considering migrating Office.

If you want to buy a new Office license, Microsoft 365, a subscription contract, is recommended from now on.

In this article, we will introduce in detail the functions of the top plan “Premium” with enhanced security measures among the Microsoft 365 plans for small and medium-sized enterprises.

What is Microsoft 365 Business

Microsoft 365 corporate plan “Microsoft 365 Business” is a series for companies with 300 or less users.

Even the most standard plan “Microsoft 365 Business Standard” costs 1,632 yen per month, which is the same price as Microsoft 365 for personal use.

Large-capacity cloud storage and mail services for corporations are also included, so you can unify management of file servers and mail servers on the cloud.

Introducing the benefits of changing your company’s Office from a perpetual license to Microsoft 365.

Bulk management of licensed users

In the Microsoft 365 corporate plan, you can use the dedicated menu “Microsoft 365 Management Center” that can manage licenses and users.

You can centrally manage license assignments and user permission settings, so you don’t need to create a ledger.

Account creation and license replacement at the time of joining and leaving can be easily set from the screen, greatly saving the troublesome work of license management.

Easy migration of apps and data

With Microsoft 365, you can sign in with your user account and install Office apps yourself, so even if you need to reinstall, you can easily install them yourself.

In addition, if business files are stored in the cloud, they can be accessed from other computers, eliminating the need to move data when a computer breaks down or is replaced.

Application always updated to the latest version

Continuing to use apps that have expired and are no longer updated poses a security risk, so companies must avoid running out of support for apps.

Microsoft 365 apps are always updated to the latest version, eliminating the need for individual app version management.

There is no support deadline, so I’m happy that I won’t have to worry about replacing it in the future.

Enhanced cloud services

Microsoft 365 offers unlimited use of not only Office apps, but also cloud services such as OneDrive for Business (cloud storage), SharePoint Online (portal site/information sharing tool), and Teams (business chat, team collaboration).

You can build a comfortable cloud environment with just Microsoft 365 without introducing multiple tools for telework.

Features of Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Premium) is the top plan among products for small and medium enterprises with 300 or less employees.

Let’s compare the contents of each plan.

The price of Micosoft 365 introduced below is the official Microsoft one.

* Microsoft official site fee information as of May 2023

Microsoft 365 is a valuable service that allows unlimited use of large-capacity cloud storage and mailboxes in addition to the Office apps that are indispensable for office work.

Plus, the Premium plan adds tools to address internal and external security risks.

It is possible to build a safe telework environment with just Microsoft 365 without introducing multiple security tools.

Intune (device management)

A device management tool with mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) functions.

We ensure safety, which is an issue in telework and multi-device use, and perform appropriate management.

Intune can collectively manage company-supplied devices and BYOD devices, so even companies that find it difficult to prepare devices in their company can operate BYOD with high safety.

Microsoft Defender (cyber-attack countermeasures)

“Microsoft Defender” is Microsoft’s security service that protects your computer from cyberattacks.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes two features:

• Microsoft Defender for Business (Endpoint Threat Prevention)
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (targeted email countermeasures)

Microsoft Defender for Business detects and automatically blocks unauthorized device movement.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 parses email attachments and URLs to detect malicious files and links.

In companies, there is a danger that malware damage may spread from a single PC through the network, so it is extremely important to prevent threats before they occur and to quickly isolate them after they are detected.

Azure Information Protection

A service that protects files with file encryption and user authentication.

As a cloud-based service, protection settings can be defined with labels and applied as policies, automatically protecting files that meet the criteria.

Operations such as copy, paste, and print can also be prohibited, preventing information leaks due to internal fraud.

Office Premium is a separate product

There is “Office Premium” in a product with a name similar to Microsoft 365 Premium (Premium), but these two are completely different products.

Office Premium is the name of the license of Office provided by Microsoft as a pre-installed version of the personal computer.

Office Premium is not sold separately as it comes with the purchase of a computer.

Office Premium includes Office desktop apps and a one-year license to Office 365 (formerly known as Microsoft 365).

After one year, Office 365 will expire, but you can continue to use Office desktop apps.

There are three types of Office Premium, each with a different lineup of included applications.

• Office Personal Premium：Word、Excel、Outlook
• Office Home＆Business Premium：Word、Excel、Outlook、PowerPoint、OneNote
• Office Professional Premium：Word、Excel、Outlook、PowerPoint、OneNote、Publisher、Access

300 or more plans are “Enterprise”

Microsoft 365 Business Premium (premium) is a plan for corporations with 300 or less employees.

If the number of users exceeds 300, there is a plan “Enterprise” for large companies with no upper limit on the number of users.

The following is a correspondence table for each plan, but the Enterprise plans “Microsoft 365 E3” and “E5” have a mailbox capacity of 100 GB per person and OneDrive storage of 5 TB (if the number of users is 5 or more). , which is upgraded from the Business plan.

In addition, the Enterprise plan with unlimited users can be contracted even if the number of users is 300 or less.

If you want a more advanced plan, please consider the Enterprise plan regardless of user size.

In addition, the low-priced plan “Microsoft 365 Apps for business (up to 300 people)” for users who mainly use Office apps also has “Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise” with unlimited number of people.

Email service and Teams are not available, but if you just want to use Office apps, this is the cheapest plan.

Article Summary

The benefits of Microsoft 365 for business are:

• Unification of systems necessary for business, such as Office applications, cloud storage, and mail services
• Streamline complicated user management and license allocation tasks
• Covering cloud tools for telework

In addition, with “Microsoft 365 Business Premium (premium)”, you can also take measures against cyber attacks at the same time.

If you are thinking about security-oriented operation, please consult with NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation.