Microsoft 365 and Office 365… it’s almost the same name, so if you think what has changed, read on.
Think of the Microsoft 365 bundle as an expansion toolkit, it combines everything you get with an Office 365 subscription plus a Windows 10 license and Microsoft’s Security Suite.
If you are unsure about whether the benefits outweigh the cost, here are our top reasons to upgrade to Microsoft 365.
Security
With organizations losing over $2.7 billion in 2018, it is safe to say that securing your business from external threats needs to be a top priority. Microsoft 365’s security features are some of the best-in-class with Gartner naming Microsoft a leader in Endpoint Protection for 2019.
Here is a brief overview of some of the features included within the Microsoft 365 Security portfolio:
Advanced Threat Protection: a cloud-based email filtering service that helps protect your organization against unknown malware and viruses.
Safe Attachments: checks email attachments to make sure they are not malicious, and then takes action to protect your device.
Safe Links: provides time-of-click verification of links in email messages and Office documents.
Anti-Phishing Policies: includes a set of advanced algorithms which are used to protect against spear-phishing attacks.
Intune: Microsoft 365 Business subscribers are licensed with full Intune capabilities for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and other cross-platform device management.
Simplified device deployment and user setup
The benefit of having everything in the one license is that it simplifies setup and deployment. Microsoft 365 is controlled from a single admin console that is used to set up and manage users and devices.
Windows Autopilot streamlines deployment across all your devices, allowing you to upgrade and grow your business with ease. This simplifies the process when a new employee joins your team, or the business decides to upgrade and refresh their devices. You can auto-install all of your Office apps on Windows 10 PCs, ensuring your business software is kept up to date. Microsoft is continuously updating their software and with a Microsoft 365 subscription you will always have the latest, most secure version of the Office apps.
Protection for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy
Many employees prefer to use their own devices to access work information rather than carrying an additional device. While it has become commonplace for employees to use personal devices for work, it comes with an increased risk that business information could be exposed.
Microsoft 365 offers businesses a simple and powerful way to enable employees to use their personal devices for work while providing the business with the ability to prevent those devices from accessing, retaining, and/or sharing business information. App Protection for Office mobile apps enforces policies such as preventing company data from being copied from an Office app into personal apps, requiring multi-factor authentication to access an office app or automatically deleting business data after a specified period of time.
Device Management allows businesses to choose to set and enforce capabilities such as Windows Defender endpoint protection, automatic updates, and turning off screens after a prescribed amount of time. In addition, lost or stolen devices can be wiped entirely of business applications and data through the Admin centre.
Cost Savings
Microsoft 365 allows you to save money by reducing or eliminating your redundant third-party technologies, infrastructure, or IT support requirements. It’s perfect if your business is ready to move their IT operations to the cloud and wants to protect data on company and BYOD devices.
If you would like to learn more about how Microsoft 365 can save your business money and maximize your ROI, you can call one of our Microsoft specialists today.
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