While Microsoft 365 has been around for a couple years, it’s only recently that it has gotten more press and marketing towards it so that you’ve heard of it. You may wonder what it is and how it affects your business. So what is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office 365, and which should your business use?

Office 365: You are probably well familiar with Office 365. It’s a suite of applications and services to keep your business productive. Depending on the plan, it will include the familiar Microsoft Office apps like Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, etc…, as well as e-mail, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, compliance/retention services, etc… . it’s basically the Microsoft application suite, but cloud-driven. It’s a great service, and we have migrated many businesses to it.

Microsoft 365: The short version is that Microsoft 365 is Office 365 + Enterprise Mobility & Security + Windows 10 Enterprise. It’s targeted for businesses that want an all-in-one package that includes everything they could possibly need to run their business technology. All of the components in Microsoft 365 are available in separate add-on licenses already, but this put them all into one license.

So What’s Right For My Business? If you have computers that need Windows 10 licenses, this can be a great way to get them compliant. However, nearly every computer you buy comes with a Windows license already, so you likely don’t need the extra expense. If you don’t need any of the additional features of Microsoft 365, or you already have solutions in-place for them (say MaaS360 for mobile-device-management), you probably don’t need to upgrade the licenses (and pay the additional expenses) for Microsoft 365. Long-term, Microsoft may bundle more features into Microsoft 365 that might make it more appealing to your business. But as it stands right now, if you’re already using Office 365 you likely don’t need Microsoft 365. Contact your local Weston office to discuss what 365 option would work best for your business.