Microsoft 365 business is one of the most popular software suites globally. It has been used by billions of users across the globe. Specifically, since the outbreak of the pandemic, the numbers got bump-up. Surely, almost everyone who has used computers in the past thirty years must be familiar with handy Microsoft applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and much so on.
In today’s scenario, most businesses are moving and relying on Microsoft 365 business tools to run their business operations smoothly. Mostly for creating documents, communicate, collaborate, and balance their work-life journey. But the scope of Microsoft 365 business extends beyond our estimations, and today it is the leading the business productivity tool in its sector globally.
What is Microsoft 365 Business?
Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 in the middle of 2017 in its enterprise solutions line up. Initially, it was an enterprise-level brand identity for Office 365, but on April 21, 2020, it became the brand identity of Microsoft’s home and business offerings. Despite its branding, Microsoft 365 is not to be confused with Office 365 or Microsoft Dynamics 365. But it is a bundle of services that includes Office 365 and other business tools with integrated AI and other cutting-edge innovations.
However, similar to Office 365, Microsoft 365 business also has multiple plans to choose from based on its need. The services offered through Microsoft 365 can be availed separately as well. The business line has three plans, such as business basic, business standard, and business premium. Likewise, Microsoft 365 has a range of plans for its enterprise partners, such as Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F3. Notably, Based on the plan, the features and services vary.
What is the difference between Office 365 and Microsoft 365?
The main difference between Microsoft 365 and Office 365 is that users can subscribe to Office 365 without subscribing to Microsoft 365, but all users having access to Microsoft 365 can have access to Office 365.
Microsoft 365 was developed to help businesses access all the baseline tools they need to securely run their necessary business infrastructure. This can be said as the de facto productivity suite for enterprises. Users get access to features like calendaring, email, meeting, data storage, data protection, work collaboration and cyber threat protection, deployment controls, and administration.
Users can either avail of the services provided by Microsoft 365 separately or access the features altogether as a bundle, as it is more cost-effective and convenient.
Let’s delve deeper into the details of Microsoft 365
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What is Microsoft 365, and why it matters?
Microsoft 365 is a collection of top-notch productivity applications helpful for modern enterprise operations. Including some applications like Excel, Word, Outlook, One Drive, PowerPoint, OneNote, and more. Microsoft 365 stands out uniquely from other competing products because of it’s distinctive and beneficial features. It comes with a range of innovative features that helps to optimize business activities to its fullest.
In this technology-based mobile-centric enterprise, most people use Microsoft 365 to get their work done without any effort systematically. Daily, over 90% of us depend on at least any of these applications to get our job done.
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What all-new features does Microsoft 365 include?
Microsoft 365 is an umbrella of services and software for the smooth functioning of businesses. This software is available in 3 flavors, namely: Business, Enterprise, and Education.
When Microsoft 365 was launched on March 30, 2020, it unveiled a handful of new features for its users. The updated features include new tools for improving, writing, finance managing, connecting with family and friends.
Let’s read more about the interesting new features:
- Microsoft Editor: This is an AI-powered writing tool to help you correct your grammar and style. This works in more than 20 languages. Users can add the extension for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge to enjoy the benefits of the Editor.
- Money in Excel: This feature lets you connect to your bank accounts and credit cards. Transaction details can be downloaded and imported to financial spreadsheets, just as if you were using Mint tools.
- Connect with friends and family: Just like using WhatsApp or Hike, Microsoft Teams lets you connect with your friends and family at once or stay connected with your loved ones. Group chats, messages, video calls, to-do lists, calendars, and much more are available in this.
- Protection with Microsoft Family Safety: An added security feature, “Microsoft Family Safety,” lets you manage your family’s screen time across Android, Xbox, Windows. Also, real-time location sharing is possible, notifying when and where the people you care for are.
Now let’s move on to the applications included.
- Microsoft Word: Microsoft word is used to create a wide variety of documents quickly and easily. It can undoubtedly be pointed to as one of the most popular word processors on the planet Earth.
According to Groovy post, Microsoft word is installed on over 1 million devices in the world. The combination of robust features and handiness to use makes it comfortable for everybody, for home and office purposes alike.
This application is available in both Business and Premium plans.
- Microsoft Excel: When it comes to spreadsheet computing, there are no other apps that can beat Microsoft Excel.
Excel is used for mass data entry, which provides users with many sounding features, a simplistic interface, good to go mathematical functions, and many more. This application comes with Microsoft 365 and Premium.
- Microsoft Outlook: Microsoft 365 has a solution for managing email and appointment calendar too. It includes functions like task managing, note-taking, calendaring, journal logging, web browsing, etc. MS Outlook is also available with both Business and premium subscriptions.
- Microsoft PowerPoint: Microsoft PowerPoint is used for creating impressive presentations to communicate information to a group of individuals. It allows users to create, display, design, and disseminate information from slides to animations and videos.
- Microsoft Publisher: Sometimes, to convey important professional information to broader audiences requires something more than just a presentation, so using Microsoft Publisher, users can publish professional booklets, brochures, or newsletters.
- Microsoft OneNote: A productivity cloud app to take notes on any of your devices, and users can retrieve the notes as needed. As the workforce has turned mobile, it becomes a need of the hour to note down important information on the go, so users can systematically store all their notes in a single cloud space.
- Microsoft OneDrive: Storage is another important aspect, so Microsoft 365’s Business subscription provides users up to 1TB of cloud storage space in the form of OneDrive for Business.
- Microsoft SharePoint: SharePoint is a web-based collaborative document management platform of Microsoft 365. It allows users to store files and to communicate across organizations. Users can create an intranet -internal internet system, with which subsites can be created for different teams to edit, access, and share their respective documents.
- Microsoft Exchange: In order to manage emails, each Microsoft 365 Business account includes an Exchange server with 50GB of storage space for emails. Maintenance of this server is generally vested in the hands of the admin.
- Microsoft Teams: Microsoft 365’s chat-based workspace works to integrate employees together. It allows integrating users, tools, and content in a single umbrella.
- License scope: A single licensed subscription can cover up to five tablets, five phones, and five PCs or Macs/ users, and this is what makes it unique.
- Support: For every Microsoft 365 subscription, users are provided with 24*7 web and phone support.
- Collaboration tools: Microsoft 365 includes certain collaborative tools like Yammer, Sway, and Delve for users to share documents, brainstorm ideas, communicate and make video meetings on the go.
- Power BI: This is one of the most powerful tools any enterprise can have. It includes a set of tools for collecting, storing, sorting, and presenting intelligence data for business purposes and more.
- Kaizala: In order to make secure communication with employees, customers, and vendors, Microsoft 365 makes it simple by adding an efficient mobile messaging app. It can help enterprises to stay connected with everyone in their circle at once.
- Flow: Managing workflow is a tedious task, and it consumes our valuable time and resources. Flow manages and handles notifications within Microsoft 365 for all the applications you come across in this.
- To-Do: To-Do is a stand-alone application to keep everyone updated about all the tasks on the pipeline.
- PowerApps: Using PowerApps, enterprisers can create sophisticated applications for doing specific jobs.
The Bottom Line
Proper communication and effective collaboration are the pillars of any successful modern enterprise. Microsoft 365 is an excellent blend of all these powerful tools needed for every modern enterprise. Moreover, it is increasingly flexible, reliable, and secure to use.