The productivity cloud – that's what Microsoft itself calls the offering, which is marketed under the name Microsoft 365 in the form of subscription business plans. 365 includes the Office applications, various cloud services, and – in the premium version – advanced security features. Four plans are available: Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium as well as Microsoft 365 Apps. All four are designed for small and medium-sized businesses that can use the programs and tools for their project work and internal and external communications – such as Teams for online conferencing and collaboration, OneDrive for cloud storage and Exchange Online for email hosting. The advantage here: Since everything comes from a single source and is stored centrally in the cloud, all files are available to everyone involved at all times. Device, system and location independent.
The right plan for every need
A small business has different needs than a medium-sized business. One person may work mainly with the most common office applications, while another has to manage a large number of large projects and ensure that internal and external employees and stakeholders can work and communicate securely and efficiently with each other at all times. Accordingly, the Microsoft 365 plans are designed for different requirements. Before we present the plans individually, we will briefly show what they all have in common:
- licensed for business use
- Booking in subscription model with monthly or yearly billing
- Free trial month
- DSGVO compliant data storage in German data centers
- Office apps on the web and mobile devices: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
- Joint document processing in real time
- 1 TB/user OneDrive online storage
- maximum 300 users
- Security and compliance with authorization and password management
- 24/7 support on the phone and online
- guaranteed availability of 99.9
When booking an annual subscription, the plans are somewhat cheaper than when paying monthly, but you are correspondingly more inflexible in the termination. Payment is made by credit card or direct debit, for invoice sums over 400 euros, processing by invoice is also possible.
Business Basic: simply work remotely
The most affordable 365 solution is, as the name suggests, the basic package among 365 business plans. This plan provides online access to the latest web versions of popular Office programs and Outlook. All applications are also available for iOS and Android and can be used on up to ten end devices (5 smartphones/5 tablets) – perfect for employees in the field. Desktop applications are not included, but compatibility (down to Office 2013) is guaranteed. Included cloud services include OneDrive, Teams, Exchange (incl. Exchange Online Protection with protection against viruses, spam and phishing) and SharePoint. Data storage, project management, internal as well as external communication, and e-mail hosting (50 GB mailbox per user) with calendar management are thus covered. Additional work aids include Microsoft Forms as a feedback tool and Microsoft lists.
Business Basic at a glance:
- Web and mobile version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
- Cloud services: OneDrive, Teams, Exchange, SharePoint
- Microsoft Forms and Lists
Business Basic costs a net 4.20 euros per month per user when paid annually; those who choose monthly pay 5.10 euros per user/month.
Business Standard: well positioned online and offline
The Business Standard plan offers the same benefits as Basic, but also provides the Office applications Access and Publisher for the PC with. Also included here are the desktop applications for PC and Mac, which only run web-based and mobile in Basic. Installation on up to 5 Macs or Windows computers is possible per user (Windows 10 is a prerequisite).
In addition to Microsoft Forms and Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings for online appointments is also on board.
Business Standard at a glance:
- Web and mobile version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
- Desktop version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook for PC/Mac; Access and Publisher for PC
- Cloud services: OneDrive, Teams, Exchange, SharePoint
- Microsoft Forms, Lists and Bookings
Business Standard costs 10.50 euros net (annually) and 10.50 euros per year. 12.60 Euro (monthly) per month and user.
Business Premium: full control and maximum security
The Premium version is the big brother of Business Standard: here you get the same package, but supplemented with advanced device management via Intune and more security features thanks to Azure Information Protection. Microsoft groups this offering together as Advanced Threat Protection, which includes things like Microsoft Defender for Office 365, remote access to lost or stolen devices, copy-and-store restriction in Office Mobile Apps, Information Rights Management, Windows Defender and Exchange online archiving. PCs and mobile devices can be comprehensively managed, for example, to configure update installations or make security settings.
Business Premium at a glance:
- Web and mobile version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
- Desktop version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook for PC/Mac; Access and Publisher for PC
- Cloud services: OneDrive, Teams, Exchange, SharePoint
- Microsoft Forms, Lists and Bookings
- Additional cloud services: Intune, Azure Information Protection
Business Premium is only available in an annual subscription, for which Microsoft charges 16.90 euros net per month and user annually.
Microsoft 365 Apps: for Office workers
If you only need the Office applications, you can opt for 365 Apps: The heavily slimmed-down plan includes the entire Office package for browsers, mobile devices and computers, but neither Exchange nor Teams. The OneDrive online storage is also included here (without SharePoint), so nothing stands in the way of shared file editing.
Microsoft 365 Apps at a glance:
- Web and mobile version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
- Desktop version: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook for PC/Mac; Access and Publisher for PC
- Cloud services: OneDrive
For Microsoft 365 Apps you pay net 8,80 Euro per user/month in yearly subscription resp. 10,60 Euro with monthly billing.
Still uncertain?
You are not yet using one of the 365 plans and are not sure what is the best choice for your business? You are thinking about setting up digital workstations for your team or making the existing ones more efficient, and you want targeted advice and support? Our experts are here to help you.
ProTRONIC has been offering the IT tailor-made suit for companies for thirty years. From server hardware and classic hosting plans to customized (Microsoft Azure) cloud solution, we have exactly what you need.
About the person: Marc Groß started to sell PC systems commercially in Bisingen in 1991. Today, 21 IT experts are part of the ProTRONIC team, which serves about 260 commercial customers from the Balingen location.
