Microsoft 365 Business Standard vs E3: 7 Things to Know Before Buying
It’s no secret that Microsoft’s suite of collaboration and productivity applications has become popular with businesses. But, how do their two newest offerings stack up to the competition? It’s important for businesses to know which package is right for them before investing in software. People are using Microsoft 365 Business Standard more than ever before because it offers so many exciting features. One such feature is Microsoft Teams – an app that helps businesses find, share, and complete tasks with one another.
This feature makes communication easier than ever before. Another popular application, Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium, includes more than one app – like Excel and Word.
Depending on which applications people prefer, you can pick the right software for your company. It’s important to have a budget so that you don’t end up wasting money on software that doesn’t work.
Microsoft 365 Business (Formerly Office 365 Business)
Microsoft 365 formerly known as office 365 is a Microsoft subscription suite and a powerful cloud-based suite that comes with all you favorite Microsoft apps.
It provides several features that are beneficial to businesses. It includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Publisher, Access, and more.
Outlook allows you to create and manage calendars, contacts, and task. Another important collaborative tool is OneDrive, a file storage service that lets you easily work on documents and store them for future reference. You can also share the files with anyone.
Another important app Microsoft posses is Microsoft Azure. It is an cloud computing platform that was released in 2010, solving problems such as storage, computation, and analysis of data through virtualization. Azure offers solutions like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
The various plans are available for a price depending on the user’s requirements.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise Licenses
The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement is the best program for organizations who have over 500 users or devices. The agreement is designed to be manageable for such organizations and will provide them with the best volume licensing program that can also purchase cloud services and software licenses under one agreement.
Microsoft has also enhanced its business segment with Microsoft BizTalk Server. It is a software for unifying communication and automating business processes such as adding, updating, and managing data in applications.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard vs E3
People always ask this question about Microsoft 365 Business standard vs Office E3: What is the difference between these products? Is one a better deal than the other? Which is more suitable for your organization?
Out of the two, Business Premium has a lower price than E3, so your organization will save money with this plan. Microsoft 365 Business is a great solution. It has an edge on E3 because it comes with Business Admin tools and it is free for 10 devices. E3 comes with many features than a Microsoft 365 but If your organization does not need all the features offered by E3, then you should consider Microsoft 365 Business Premium for better collaboration and productivity.
One major difference between Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Office E3 is business apps. Business standard is more for smaller companies who uses Microsoft Bookings and Invoicing where as, E3 is more intended for larger companies where you see Mailbox storage, OneDrive and most importantly compliance tools that are only included in Enterprise plans.
Pricing
Enterprise customers get a more secure website with a big price difference. You get to subscribe to your Enterprise plan yearly, meaning you’ll pay per month but are still subscribed for a year. Business customers, on the other hand, can choose between monthly and yearly subscriptions. If you want a monthly subscription, you’ll only be able to go for the Business plans.
It’s not hard to tell that an Enterprise E3 license will cost you $20/user/month in a yearly subscription, in comparison to the more economical Business Standard Licence of $12.50/month/user. Contact us for more up to date prices on Enterprise and Business Plans and we can assist you with the best approach your business can take in reaching a successful, secure productivity apps and solutions.
In-Place Archive
Microsoft Business Standard and E3 comes with Exchange Online but biggest difference is E3 comes with unlimited storage in the form of an in-place archive and a 100GB mailbox whereas, Business Standard only has a 50 GB mailbox. For a business standard you can buy the Exchange Online Archiving Add-on for Business Standard for an extra $3/user/month to increase your storage.
Besides the storage, E3 also comes with Hosted Unified Messaging services that provide call answering, a dial-in user interface, and company automated attendant capabilities prevent data loss like Personal Identification Numbers or Credit Card numbers.
Remote Virtualisation
If you’re using a terminal server (like Remote Desktop or Citrix) or you’re running virtualized desktops (VDI) then you can’t use Business Premium. The Microsoft 365 Business licenses doesn’t allow it.
When you activate Business standard within ant Remote Desktop It’ll count towards the 5 devices limit and every server cluster will consume a license breaking your bank.
Group Policies
Larger organizations use Group Policies to control Office applications within a domain. With the Enterprise plans you can control the Office application settings, security, user preferences, and more. Managing settings across multiple organizations can be a challenge.
Policies created on premises do not carry over to the cloud. You cannot use SharePoint or OneDrive for Business policies and vice versa. Azure AD provides central administration of Office 365 and allows companies to take advantage of cloud-based services that are in addition to their on-premises applications, such as SaaS-based email archiving, online backup, and more.
Data Loss Prevention and Compliance
The Enterprise’s plans offer you all the features you need to avoid data loss and to be compliant with all the regulations. Microsoft Enterprice plans comes with DLP policies and compliance capabilities allow you to set rules that will either warn you or prevent you from sharing Personal Identification Information or Bank and CreditCard Numbers.
The Litigation Hold and In-Place Hold are really important features. If your company deals with a lot of legal cases, these features allow you to collect all the evidence you need.
Microsoft Excel
Excel comes in both plans but there are few limitations in Business Standard and E3. In the Enterprise plans Excel comes with the following additional features:
Spreadsheet Compare
Spreadsheet Inquire
Power Query
Power Pivot
Power View
Decoupled PivotTables and PivotCharts
If your business is using some advanced excel functions and are working with big data sets and do some analytics then Enterprise price is the best option.
Support
As good as Microsoft 365 is at maintaining uptime, an issue can always occur. You can feel secure knowing you are protected from anything that could go wrong with Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans. When it comes to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you can only call in to report a critical issue.
Conclusion
If we take all the details into account, we recommend Business Standard licenses only for smaller companies. The advantage of Group Policy, DLP, Compliance and Information Protection is something you really need in a larger environment or medium to big business who are looking for more collaborative and productivity tools.
It is not possible to use the Standard license. The same applies for the Education license. There is a free version of PolicyPak, but it does not have any of the features that are included in the Enterprise license.
At Setup4 we always look out for our clients. As a Microsoft Partner we are always happy to assist to every needs of our customers in managing their IT needs for their business.
If you have any questions, we are here to help you. Contact us through our chat box or simply email us and we’ll get back to you soon.
