Microsoft 365 for businesses: what it is and why you should have it managed

For most companies, Microsoft 365 is an everyday work tool, often without getting the full benefit from it. Yet with the right setup and management it can save you time, money and hassle. And that is exactly what we focus on.

What Microsoft 365 brings to a business

Microsoft 365 brings together in one place everything a company needs day to day:

• Professional business email with your own domain (Exchange Online), reliable and available from anywhere.
• Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) on your computer and in the browser.
• Teams for communication, calls and online meetings.
• OneDrive and SharePoint as secure cloud storage and a way to share documents across the team.

Everything works together, updates itself and is available from your computer, your phone and remotely.

Licensing tiers: which one to choose

Microsoft 365 for business comes in several tiers, differing mainly in what they include. For small and medium companies the three most common are:

• Business Basic. Business email, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint plus Office apps in the web version only (in the browser). A fit for companies that mainly need email and are happy working in a browser.
• Business Standard. The same as Basic, but also the classic Office apps installed directly on the computer (Word, Excel, Outlook and others). The most common choice for everyday office work.
• Business Premium. Includes everything in Standard and adds advanced security and device management (for example extended Microsoft Defender protection and tools for managing company computers and phones). Suited to where sensitive data and security matter more.

So the main practical difference is: Basic = apps in the browser only, Standard = also installed on the computer, Premium = plus stronger security. We will advise which tier makes the most sense for your company, so you do not pay for what you will not use.

How you pay

Microsoft 365 is not a one-off purchase but a subscription per user per month (or annually). The cost therefore grows with the number of employees and the chosen tier. The advantage is that the apps update continuously, so you always have the current version without paying extra for new releases. Licences can be added or removed as the number of people in the company changes.

Security as the foundation

With business data, security is crucial, and Microsoft 365 offers tools for it, but they have to be switched on and configured:

• Two-factor authentication (MFA) makes account abuse much harder even if someone gets the password. It is one of the most important measures of all.
• Microsoft Defender protects against phishing, malicious attachments and fraudulent links in mail (the scope depends on the licence tier).
• Password and access policies decide who can reach what and reduce the risk when an employee leaves.

Why leave administration to an expert

Microsoft 365 is not just “turn it on and use it”. For it to truly serve you well and stay secure, it needs to be set up correctly and managed on an ongoing basis:

• Creating and managing users, their rights and access when employees join and leave.
• Security - two-factor authentication, protection against phishing and spam, password policies.
• Data backup. Be careful: Microsoft does not back up your data for you in the way many people assume. A lost or deleted email or file is usually a problem. That is why we recommend a separate backup.
• Migration from old email or another system without losing mail and contacts.

We take care of your entire Microsoft 365

We will help you with the setup, migration, user administration, security and backup of Microsoft 365. You focus on your work, and we make sure everything runs securely and reliably. Get in touch and we will advise you on how to set up Microsoft 365 sensibly in your company.

This article is part of our Software and system overview.