While itвЂ™s important to understand how size impacts the M365 plans you purchase, itвЂ™s also important to understand the features these plans include. вЂњWhen the next contract year comes around, and theyвЂ™re over 300 employees, Microsoft usually switches the licenses to enterprise-grade at that point.вЂќ For instance, Is your company set to expand over the 300-license threshold in the coming contract year? вЂњSince Microsoft caps the number of licenses at 300 for Standard and Premium, I usually recommend they keep the business premium licenses for up to 300 employees, then purchase E3 licenses for any employees they add on during the year that go over that line,вЂќ Thorngren said. The 300-employee cutoff is a pretty good boundary between the different styles of plans. вЂњEven with the a la carte add-ons, itвЂ™s still a far lower price than just upgrading all your licenses to comparable plans, usually E3 and E5.вЂќ вЂњIf your company has less than 300 licenses, I usually recommend just doing the add-ons,вЂќ said Thorngren. Thorngren is quick to point out though, that these enterprise options are available as add-ons for the M365 Business Premium. The enterprise plans come with more mailbox storage, OneDrive capacity, and an upgraded SharePoint plan, for instance.вЂќ Parsing the 300-employee cutoff вЂњSometimes the main difference is the amount of capacity they have. They have a lot of the same programs and protections,вЂќ said Christopher Thorngren, solutions architect at Integris. вЂњThereвЂ™s not a lot of difference between the upper-end Enterprise plans and Microsoft 365 Business Plan. With MicrosoftвЂ™s continued improvements, plans designed for smaller companies still offer much of the scale and power youвЂ™d find in enterprise plans. Companies with more than 300 employees are the target market for M365 E3 and E5 plans. Microsoft caps its business plans at 300 users. What makes a plan вЂњenterprise-gradeвЂќ? The answer is simple: the number of seats it covers. WhatвЂ™s the Difference between M365 Business Standard, M365 Business Premium Plan, and the Enterprise-Grade Products? What kinds of plans should your company be considering? The product continuum for Microsoft 365 plans start with M365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and graduates to services for larger companies that include M365 Enterprise Plans 3, and 5.

In many cases, smaller companies can get nearly everything a larger company can get in their plans, for considerably less per seat, per month. TheyвЂ™ve also added device management and baked-in Endpoint Detection systems. MicrosoftвЂ™s newest offerings include its entire suite of Microsoft Office networking and productivity tools. These days, companies of any size can enjoy enterprise-grade networking, productivity, and cloud security products, scaled for their budget and needs. Even using MicrosoftвЂ™s handy comparison grids, decision-making isnвЂ™t clear-cut.Д«ut thereвЂ™s good news in all this complexity: choice. How much you pay will depend on your companyвЂ™s size, your infrastructure needs, and the вЂњadd-onsвЂќ you need.

Microsoft plans range from $6 a seat per month to more than $50 per seat. But making those choices isnвЂ™t always easy. Should your company invest in MicrosoftвЂ™s more advanced cloud plans like M365 Business Premium?ДЇor most companies, we believe the answer is yes.

Are you ready to make the extra investment in a Microsoft 365 Business Premium Plan or any of the advanced plans Microsoft offers? Microsoft 365 Business Premium Plan, Standard, and Enterprise Options-Which One Is Right for Your Company?

Microsoft 365 e3