The way we work is changing. Work is moving out from the walled limitations of physical offices and time bound deadlines, to a more open network of interconnected devices and flexible working structure. We see an emergence of collaborative scenarios of work where there is an increased usage of cloud, AI (Artificial Intelligence), chatbots and IoT components.
In an article on Emerging digital workplace trends for 2018 and beyond*, David Mario Smith, founder and principal analyst at InFlow Analysis, writes:
- Under the charge of making enterprises more conversational, there is a targeted move towards cloud-based solutions for communications, collaboration and productivity.
- We’ll see organizations move towards more of a steering committee approach for technology procurement decisions, that include all lines of business having representation at the table.
Cloud based collaboration and productivity solutions certainly can help businesses meet the digital workplace goals in 2018.
Microsoft Office 365 is now tantamount to productivity in the cloud due to its wide acceptance and increased usage by enterprises of all sizes. We have used many of the office tools like Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote etc. since long. Office 365 as a complete cloud-based communication suite takes you one step further with a plenty of ways to collaborate and revolutionize the way you and your teams work.
Moving to cloud with Office 365 gives access to a lot of new age communication tools like Skype for Business, Teams, SharePoint, and storage and mailing solutions like OneDrive and Exchange. These tools help large scale enterprises and SMBs alike to achieve workplace productivity with minimal investment.
For best user experience, Microsoft offers Office 365 plans for multiple sizes of enterprises based on number of users and licenses required. But, as we say not every plan fits all. You need to know which Office 365 plan options you have to maximize your productivity, so, let’s compare Office 365 Business and Enterprise Plans.
Office 365 Plans comparison
Office 365 license comparison is given below in detail:
1. Office 365 Business Plans
The Office 365 Business Plan is for small to medium sized businesses. SMBs by moving to cloud can not only nullify their capital expenditure, but can achieve better productivity as well. They can create teams that communicate securely – anytime on the go; define tasks; monitor employees and organization’s data by setting rules; and eventually improve collaboration with the help of Office 365 business apps.
Following are the different Office 365 Business Plans – Office 365 Essential Suite, Office 365 Business Suite and Office 365 Premium Suite.
a)The Essential Suite
The Essential Suite is for the businesses that require dedicated emailing solution and other business services, but not necessarily Office apps. Hence, the Essential plan does not include any desktop and web Office applications like Word, Excel, Outlook or PowerPoint.
The plan comes with 50 GB mailbox and custom email address based on your domain. Secure intranet connections facilitate easy file sharing and managing team sites through SharePoint. Users can also host online meetings and video conferencing with up to 250 people.
Other features include Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Microsoft Planner and Microsoft StaffHub. The plan can support up to 300 users.
A quick look at the features:
- Business Class email with 50 GB inbox and Calendar for scheduling meeting.
- Online meeting and video conferencing
- Ample storage with 1 TB online space
- Office applications (Online)
b) The Business Suite
Business Suite is fit for businesses that require Office applications along with cloud based file storage and sharing facility.
Contrary to Essential plan, the Business suite does include all the Office Apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. as well as the desktop versions of all Office 2016 applications. A single license can cover up to 5 devices. OneDrive storage with 1 TB of cloud storage space. The maximum users can go up to 300.
- Fully installed Office applications across 5 devices
- 1 TB of Online storage
- Online access to Office applications
c) The Premium Suite
The Office 365 Business Premium Suite is an ideal fit for businesses that need Office apps, business-class email and other important business communication and productivity services. The Suite includes all the Office applications, fully installed. One license covers up to 5 devices.
It offers Email Hosting including 50 GB mailbox and custom email address based on your domain. It also has secure file storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
Other features include Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Listings, Microsoft Connections and Outlook customer manager. Some added features include Microsoft Invoicing, MileIQ, Microsoft Bookings, and Business Center. It can support up to 300 users.
- Fully Installed Office applications across 5 device.
- Business Class email with 50 GB inbox and Calendar
- Online meetings and video conferencing
- 1 TB Online storage and sharing
- Office Applications online
Given table will help you compare Office 365 Business Plans: Essential Suite Vs Business Suite Vs Premium Suite.
| Features | Office 365 Essential Suite | Office 365 Business Suite | Office 365 Premium suite |
| Office applications – Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access (only PC) | No
(No desktop versions; only web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint) |
Yes
(Desktop versions of all; web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint) |
Yes
(Desktop versions of all; web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint) |
| OneDrive – 1TB File storage & sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Skype for Business Online | Yes
(Hold meetings for up to 250 people) |
No | Yes
(Hold meetings for up to 250 people) |
| Business class email hosting | 50 GB mailbox, custom email domain address | No | 50 GB mailbox, custom email domain address |
| Exchange Online | Yes | No | Yes |
| SharePoint Online | Yes | No | Yes |
| Yammer Enterprise | Yes | No | Yes |
| Maximum users | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| Microsoft Bookings | No | No | Yes |
| Microsoft StaffHub | No | No | Yes |
2. Office 365 plans for Large Enterprises
Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise plans meet the demands of large scale enterprises with amazing email and business communication tools to enable online collaboration.
Enterprises with a comparatively large employee strength find it very difficult to manage their employees in a productive manner. Office 365’s high performing business apps help them meet their internal and external communication needs. All Office 365 Enterprise Plans allow access to unlimited users.
The Enterprise Plans include: Office 365 Enterprise E1 Suite, Office 365 ProPlus Suite, Office 365 Enterprise E3 Suite and Office 365 Enterprise E5 Suite.
a) Office 365 Enterprise E1 Suite
In E1 Suite, only Online versions of Office applications are available, thus no desktop versions. Users get file storage with 1 TB of space in OneDrive. Secure intranet allows sharing and collaboration between teams through SharePoint. Enterprises can host meetings and video conferences with up to 10,000 people.
Other features include Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Delve and Microsoft StaffHub.
- Unlimited Users
- Office Applications
- 1 TB Online Storage space
- Business Class Email
- Online Meetings
- Secure Intranet Site
b) Office 365 ProPlus Suite
The ProPlus Suite includes cloud based file sharing and storage but does not include business email. The users get access to both desktop and web versions of Office 2016 applications like Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word etc. Skype for Business client is available only for PC and Mac.
- Unlimited Users
- Office Applications
- 1 TB Online
- Digital Storytelling
- Enterprise Apps
- Self Service
c) Office 365 Enterprise E3 Suite
The E3 Suite comes with all the features of Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Enterprise E1 plans. Some additional features include security and compliance tools like data loss prevention, legal hold etc. Email hosting with 100 GB mailbox is included with desktop and web versions of all Office applications. Other features include Skype for Business, Yammer, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft StaffHub and Microsoft Planner.
- Unlimited Users
- Office Applications
- 1 TB Online
- Business Class Email
- Online Meetings
- Corporate Social
d) Office 365 Enterprise E5 Suite
The Suite includes all the feature of the E3 Suite and some additional features related to security, voice capabilities, and analytics. Users get access to both desktop and online versions of Office applications. Some added advantages include the manual retention and deletion policies, Exchange Online Advanced Threat Protection and more. Office 365 cloud app security further helps in advanced protection of data and information.
- Unlimited Users
- Office Applications
- 1 TB Online Storage Space
- Business Class Email
- Online Meetings
- Secure Intranet Site
Given table of Microsoft Office E1 vs E3 vs E5 vs ProPlus Suite will help you compare Office 365 Enterprise Plans:
| Features | ProPlus Suite | Enterprise E1 | Enterprise E3 | Enterprise E5 |
| Office applications(Desktop versions) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Business email hosting | No | 50 GB mailbox, custom email domain address | 100 GB mailbox, custom email domain address | 100 GB mailbox, custom email domain address |
| OneDrive File Storage & Sharing | 1TB | 1TB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Skype for Business | Client for PC & Mac; Service not included | Unlimited HD meetings with up to 250 attendees; Up to 10,000 with Skype Meeting Broadcast | Unlimited HD meetings with up to 250 attendees; Up to 10,000 with Skype Meeting Broadcast | Unlimited HD meetings with up to 250 attendees; Up to 10,000 with Skype Meeting Broadcast |
| SharePoint | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search & Discovery | No | Delve | eDiscovery – search, hold & export | Advanced eDiscovery – search, hold, export & analytics |
| StaffHub | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Planner | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manual retention, detention policies & classifications | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Publisher (PC only) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Maximum users | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| MyAnalytics & Power BI Pro | No | No | No | Yes |
| Online Advanced Threat Protection | No | No | No | Yes |
| Customer Lockbox | No | No | No | Yes |
| Advanced Data Governance | No | No | No | Yes |
| Office 365 Cloud App Security | No | No | No | Yes |
| Phone System | No | No | No | Yes |
All the above plans come with the following:
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
Enjoy 99.9% uptime guarantee and financially backed SLAs (service-level agreements) by Microsoft that ensure you never face downtime.
- Always-on Support
Our dedicated IT team is always at your help through mails or phone support that runs 24/7.
- Active Directory Integration
The Active Directory integration helps you manage the user accounts and their credentials so that your data is always accessible to the right audience and at the right time.
- Shared Online Calendars
Shared Calendars facilitate team efforts while ensuring that everyone in the team is on the same page. It becomes easy to view and manage meetings and important deadlines.
To compare Office 365 Business and Enterprise plans, we have prepared an Office 365 comparison chart pdf. This Office 365 plans comparison pdf will help you get an overview of all the differences in a glance.
Do let us know your queries in comment section.
