The possibilities are endless when it comes to Microsoft licenses and it is often complex to make the right choice for our organization. Productivity tools, security tools or additional tools, we will review their functionality so that you can check that you have the right licenses for the reality of your organization.
Through this article, we offer you a summary of the information that will be useful to you so that you can define which licenses are the most suitable for your needs. Our objective: to help you find the formula that allows you to optimize your productivity and your safety.

Productivity tools, security tools and complementary tools      

The tools offered by Microsoft are numerous. For this reason, we are going to present to you the most popular ones that we have segmented into 3 large families: productivity tools, security tools and finally complementary tools.

Productivity tools

We no longer present the Microsoft tools that help increase your daily productivity. Here is a small summary of each of these tools if you missed our webinars and articles on the subject.

• OneDrive : To store files individually (1TB/user)
• SharePoint : To store collective files, and develop your intranet (1TB for the organization) 10GB per provisioned license 
• Exchange : Electronic messaging (50 GB per box). Shared mailboxes do not require licenses ([email protected], [email protected], etc.)
• Teams : Messaging and virtual meetings (up to 250 people)

In order to obtain these productivity tools, it is possible to buy them individually, or on a flat-rate basis through Business licenses. 

Security tools 

Beyond the productivity tools we often hear about, Microsoft also has security solutions that work for you.

• Azure Active Directory P1 : is a cloud-based identity and access management service. 
• Azure information protection : helps discover, classify, protect and govern sensitive information, wherever it resides or moves.
• Defender for companies : is a self-defense system against threats and vulnerabilities, which helps protect your data and devices.
• Defender for Office 365 plan 1 : is an email security platform that detects, examines and responds to advanced threats (e.g. malicious links or attachments)
• InTune : allows you to manage mobile devices (laptops, and others) remotely and thus be able to control the data found on these devices, in the event of theft or employees who do not follow the procedures.

As with productivity tools, these tools can be purchased individually or on a flat-rate basis for business licenses.   

Complementary tools  

Several tools are not included in the licenses and are added to the part. Among this list here are the most popular ones that are adopted by companies in the “productivity” section.

• Teams telephony with calling plans : Complete telephone system
• Power Platform :
  • Power BI pro : To create and produce analysis reports Learn more about this tool by consulting our article “The power of business intelligence at the service of your organization”.
  • Power Apps : to create applications without the need to program 

• Project : to create and manage projects

Regarding the “security” component, we warmly advise you to opt for essential and complementary tools that will complement the tools offered by Microsoft: 

• M365 backup : Microsoft 365 stores, but does not back up your data, for this reason it is essential to opt for a data backup solution.
  Learn more about this tool by consulting our article: “Data backup in Microsoft 365”

• Training : Your best ally to optimize your M365 tools is undoubtedly the training of your team. The format depends on your available resources, there are live, online.
  
  

The main families of licenses 

Business  

Microsoft offers 4 types of business licenses. They will be limited to 300 users per license type. We will remember the following 3: 

• Business basic : all the essential tools in web version only
• Business standard : all the essential tools in web and local version
• Business premium : combines productivity and maximizes security in Microsoft 365

Advice from MS Solutions: The Business Premium license is appropriate for SMEs. It contains all the tools necessary to ensure the security of SMEs and its cost is more advantageous than taking the tools individually.
This solution also avoids having to use external applications which complicate the task of administrators and which do not integrate well with Microsoft and would inflate the bill!  

For more details, here is the comparative table of Business licenses offered by Microsoft.

Enterprise

Enterprise licenses have several advantages and will be necessary if you have more than 300 users. You’ll get more storage, but also telephony and compliance solutions. Among these are the E3 and E5 licenses.

For more details, here is the comparison table of enterprise licenses offered by Microsoft.

In short

SMBs will be better served in terms of productivity and security with a Business Premium license combined with a third-party backup and monitoring solution, efficiently managed by experts.

Do you want to migrate to Microsoft, but do not know which licenses to switch to, or do you want to know if your current license(s) are ideal for your situation? Do not hesitate to contact our team who will be happy to discuss the matter with you.

This article features content discussed in a previous webinar. To see this webinar in replay, it’s here. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive your invitations to future webinars.