Microsoft offers many customizable packages to suit your firm’s needs, and it’s billed per user, so you can have different levels of subscriptions within your company. An example of when this is helpful is if you have a generic info email under your domain that you don’t really need a whole lot of apps for. Microsoft 365 allows you to customize the package for that user and ultimately save you money. Let’s take a look at a handful of the various different user subscription offerings.  

Microsoft 365 Packages 

Business Premium  

This user type offers 1 TB of OneDrive storage. It is the minimum license recommended for accounting firms as it offers security and cyberthreat protection, when configured correctly.  

Services included (Desktop, web, and mobile apps):  

Microsoft 365 E3 

The E3 subscription comes with unlimited OneDrive storage and no cap on users. It also offers some of the top security features available. Apps included everything in the Business Premium plus (Desktop, web, and mobile apps):  

Microsoft 365 E5 

Microsoft Office 365 E5 includes all of the features in E3 plan with additional ones such as Advanced Threat Protection for security against business email compromise. All apps from E3 are included (Desktop, web, and mobile apps) plus the following:  

• Bookings 
• Viva Insights 
• Power BI Pro 

Apps for business 

If you are looking for something tailored to small business users specifically, then Apps for Business is ideal. This plan includes a range of commonly used applications such as Outlook, Word and Excel with rights management features bundled in. It allows business users to collaborate efficiently on projects together without compromising on data privacy or security along the way! 

Features included: 

• Desktop versions of Microsoft 365 apps with premium features 
• 1 TB of cloud storage per user 
• Standard security 
• Anytime phone and web support 

Apps included (Desktop, web, and mobile apps):  

• Word 
• Excel 
• PowerPoint  
• Outlook 
• OneDrive 
• Access (PC only)  
• Publisher (PC only) 

The difference between Office 365 and Microsoft 365 

Microsoft’s naming conventions have, at times, served as a point of confusion for consumers. Office 365 is a cloud-based subscription for productivity apps like Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and more. Microsoft 365 is a bundle that includes O365 apps as well as many other services including Windows licensing for a PC.. 

Microsoft 365, like O365, offers a variety of plans to meet every business’s needs. For many organizations, Office 365 is all that is needed at the moment because their endpoints are already licensed for Windows. But, with the various different options available as a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 users, firms have the flexibility to find the package that meets their needs, no matter the firm size.