Office 365 - What business plan is for you - Part 2

Office 365 is highly accessible and can support everything from a one-person business to companies with tens of thousands of users. Office 365, which is paid for on a subscription basis, monthly or annually, includes 3 main typologies of plans: Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Midsize Business, and Office 365 Enterprise.

Office 365 small business plans are best for companies with up to 10 employees, and can accommodate up to 25 users. It includes:

· Office 365 Small Business. It allows you to easily create and update an attention-grabbing website to market your business, and to attach your custom domain name to your email address to increase name recognition. Users can be rapidly set up thanks to the step-by-step guidance. Office 365 Small business offers the flexibility to access the admin center from anywhere and to easily manage all your services, from email accounts to file-sharing rules. It does not include: Full installed Office Applications; Office for tablets; Site mailboxes; Active Directory integration; Mobile Apps; Yammer Enterprise; Advanced email; eDiscovery Center; Voicemail; Self-service Business Intelligence; Enterprise voice.

· Office 365 Premium. Freedom is what you get with Office 365. Whether you are at your desktop or on your tablet or phone, you can get to your documents, email and calendars, shared files, and online meetings. And wherever you access it, it is always your Office, so your files are up to date and your recent documents just a click away. Similarly to Office 365 Small Business, the set up process is made easy with the step-by-step guidance, while the admin center can be easily accessed and managed from anywhere to check the health of your services on the go with the Admin app. It does not include: InfoPath; Active Directory integration; Yammer Enterprise; Advanced email; eDiscovery Center; Voicemail; Self-service Business Intelligence; Enterprise voice.

Office 365 Midsize Business represents the best option for companies with 11 to 250 employees, and it can accommodate up to 300 users. As the previous typologies of plans, Office 365 Midsize Business offers the advantage to access your tools and files from anywhere, across your devices. With Office powered by the cloud, you always have the latest applications, your files are always up to date, and your recent documents are up front, so you can get right to work. Collaborating is essential today, and Office 365 makes it easy. Teams can in fact store documents in team sites and use a project-specific mailbox to help everyone get to those documents fast, right from their email. Automatic updates ensure that you always have the latest version, without interrupting work. Services can be managed from a web-based admin center, where you can add or delete users in seconds, manage email policies, and set access rules. And just in case, company data can easily be removed from lost phones and tablets. It does not include: Advanced email; eDiscovery Center; Voicemail; Enterprise Voice.

Office 365 Enterprise plans fit organizations ranging in size from a single employee to 50,000-plus users. It includes:

· Office 365 Enterprise E1. With Office 365 you can work on documents across devices, right from a browser, to move projects forward wherever team members are working. This way, files are always up to date and you can work together on the same document at the same time. Office 365 offers the flexibility to get exactly the services you want, which saves you costs. You can combine Office 365 with your existing investments, like previous versions of Office, and connect users directly from their familiar applications. If you have users with different needs, you can mix and match services for them, so you can provide the tools to those who need them in a cost-effective way. Lastly, Office 365 Enterprise E1 offers the chance to manage your service from any browser and also automate management tasks using PowerShell commands. It does not include: Full, installed Office applications; Office for tablets; Mobile Apps; Advanced email, eDiscovery center; Voicemail; Self-service Business Intelligence; Enterprise Voice;

· Office 365 Enterprise E3. With Office 365 Enterprise E3, each user can proceed with the installation process on five devices and work across them to keep projects moving ahead. Files are always up to date and you can work together on the same document. Sharing files inside and outside your organization, even large and confidential files, becomes extremely simple, and teams can join online meetings with HD video and screen sharing from anywhere or connect fast with social networking. Office 365 Enterprise E3 also helps to protect the company’s data. You can create your own data loss prevention policies and use built-in policy education in email to inform users what they are doing wrong before they send a message. This way, the company’s data is safe and your users stay up to date with company policies. It does not include: Enterprise voice.

· Office 365 Enterprise E4. Similarly to the previous plan, Office 365 Enterprise E4 also offers the chance to be installed by each user on five different devices and work across them to keep projects moving ahead. Files are always up to date and you can work together on the same document. Teams can join online meetings with HD video and screen sharing from anywhere or connect fast with social networking. With Office 365 E4, you can enhance or replace your PBX (Private Branch Exchange) phone system with the enterprise calling capabilities of Lync Server 2013.1. Phone calling is made easy. You can make and receive calls from any phone number using a PC, have another phone ring the same time as a work number, have a work number displayed when you call from a mobile device, and set up an assistant to make and receive calls on your behalf. It includes all the Office 365 features.

I could not have written this article without the help of the following sources:

1. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/microsoft-office-365-for-business-faq-FX103030232.aspx#SignUp
2. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/compare-all-office-365-for-business-plans-FX104051403.aspx

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