[By purpose of use] What is the most cost-effective plan and how to use it? [Microsoft 365]

Microsoft 365 has a wide variety of corporate plans, and you can choose from a variety of plans.

On the other hand, even if you look at the comparison table of apps and functions, there may be some people who are not quite sure.

No matter how much time you have, it’s not enough to research the details of individual apps and consider whether to use them.

Therefore, if you are unsure, it is recommended to consider the plan from the usage scene.

This article introduces cost-effective Microsoft 365 plans for different purposes.

If you are lost in introducing Microsoft 365, please refer to it.

Is Microsoft 365 difficult to understand the functions and costs?

The most common purpose for introducing Microsoft 365 is “use of Office apps”.

For other functions, no matter how convenient they are, you may not be able to judge whether they are really necessary for your company.

Also, the more features you have, the cheaper the cost per app will be, but if you can’t use it all, it will be expensive as a result.

Luckily, Microsoft 365 is a subscription, so changing licenses is relatively flexible.

It is possible to select a plan by focusing on the functions you need and the usage scene you envision, and upgrade later, so it is a good idea to first use the plan that matches your purpose.

Corporate plan that only needs Office apps

If you only need to use Office for the time being, such as replacing an Office license, there is an affordable plan that focuses on apps.

It would be a good idea to start here.

Microsoft 365 Apps for Business・Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise

“Microsoft 365 Apps~” is a simple plan that specializes in using Office apps and suppresses other functions.

Plans include desktop apps for Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher.

Some people may think, “If it’s just Office, there’s a one-time purchase license, so there’s no need to sign a subscription contract, right?” The advantage is that you don’t have to worry about losing your money.

The price of the one-time purchase license “Office Professional 2021” for six apps excluding OneNote from “Microsoft 365 Apps ~” is about 66,000 yen.

Even if you continue to use it for about 5 years, it will cost 13,200 yen per year, so Microsoft 365 is more profitable for companies with 300 or fewer employees.

*Access and Publisher are for Windows PC only.

* Microsoft official site fee information as of May 2023

Plan for web conferencing with Teams

Teams can be used for free, but group meetings are limited to a maximum of 60 minutes, making it a little inconvenient for business use.

When considering a paid plan for Teams, we recommend using it with Microsoft 365 because the cost performance is not very good on its own.

Microsoft 365 Business Basic・Office 365 E1

Teams single license “Microsoft Teams Essentials” is 5,160 yen per user per year.

With Microsoft 365 Business Basic, the monthly charge for Teams plus about 200 yen comes with the web version of Office and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage.

When using Teams, I think there will be more cases of file sharing in chats and web conferences, but the OneDrive storage granted with a single Teams license is 10GB. For business use, it will be full in no time.

When used with Microsoft 365, it also supports multilingual live captions, recording and transcription of meetings, providing general support for business meetings.

* Microsoft official site fee information as of May 2023

Plans for security-conscious enterprises

When connecting to a network other than the company LAN or when working in an environment out of sight of other employees, it is imperative to take measures against unauthorized access and information leakage.

Here are plans that include security features that are recommended for companies that use telework.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3/E5

Microsoft 365’s corporate high-end plan has extensive security features such as malware countermeasures, data protection, and device protection.

It also comes with the device management tool “Intune”, so you can safely manage corporate data even when introducing BYOD.

Enterprise plans E3 and E5 for large companies are equipped with more advanced functions, so if you want high security even with 300 users or less, please consider the Enterprise plan.

* Microsoft official site fee information as of May 2023

Recommended plan if you are not sure which one to choose

Don’t worry if you can’t decide which one to choose.

If you are unsure, choose a standard plan and you will be able to fully experience the benefits of Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard・Office 365 E3

Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Office 365 E3, which are the most standard plans among Microsoft 365 plans, are well-balanced plans with functions that realize telework collaboration.

In addition to Office desktop applications, cloud-based work environments such as cloud storage, web conferencing tools, email services, and portal sites for information sharing are all set. You can also expect to promote

* Microsoft official site fee information as of May 2023

Save money with Microsoft 365 monthly and yearly subscriptions

Another key to keeping Microsoft 365 costs down is the length of the contract.

The annual contract is cheaper in the long run, so if you know you will be using it for a long time, we recommend an annual contract.

If you want to change people in a short period of time, or if you want to use it for verification before introduction, you can quit at any time if you make a monthly contract.

In the case of a one-time purchase license, the cost will not be returned even if you do not use it once purchased, so it can be said that it is an advantage of a subscription that you can contract only for the period you want to use and keep costs down.

NEC Networks & System Integration can provide a wide range of support, from Microsoft 365 plan selection to contract and implementation.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about plans, product content, or how to save money on Microsoft 365.