Microsoft 365 Service Premium vs E3, and One Powerful Tool in Both That Will Revolutionize Your IT

So, you've picked Microsoft 365 and the Azure cloud for your company. Congratulations. We believe you've made the right option.

Now that you've picked M365, it is time to select a plan. While there are lots of to select from, IT Support Guys usually manages M365's Business Premium and E3 (business) offerings.

Other plans like Business Standard and E5 have their advantages, but we find that considering Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs E3 gives companies the best bundle of features that are essential for any company.

In this post, we will cover the differences between Business Premium and Microsoft's first enterprise offering. You may find that neither offering is for you, choosing the cheaper Business Standard plan, or the immersive E5 strategy.

Bear in mind, for the purposes of this post, all references to "E3" specify to Microsoft 365 E3. This plan is different from the legacy E3 offering, known as "Microsoft Office E3."

If you have a concern about any of these strategies or want to consult our tech specialists on which M365 plan will move your organization furthest forward, get on a call with us as quickly as possible.

What is Microsoft 365?

A style portraying Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs E3

Microsoft 365 is Microsoft's subscription productivity suite that can connect all of your favorite Microsoft Office applications together with world-class cloud capabilities and air-tight security.

M365 comes packaged in various different plans for home, service, and enterprise. With varying rates and features, Microsoft provides you choices for what plan fits your scenario the best.

What is Azure cloud?

Graphic illustrating multiple computer systems sending out data as much as the Microsoft Azure cloud, a key component of Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs. E3 Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform that was launched in 2010, resolving issues consisting of storage, calculation, and analysis of information through virtualization.

Azure offers solutions like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Cloud services permit companies to lower their overhead by reducing storage costs, while likewise centralizing information for much better file sharing, and boosting backup and catastrophe recovery efforts.

What is Business Premium?

Microsoft 365 Business Premium is M365's top offering for little to medium-sized businesses, an upgrade on its Business Basic and Business Standard offerings.

Company Premium costs $20 per user per month and features a 50 GB mailbox storage limit and a 1 TB storage limit in OneDrive. Only 300 Business Premium licenses can be designated to a business prior to it must begin buying enterprise strategies.

What is E3?

Microsoft 365 E3 is M365's preliminary business plan, can be found in as the second-most crammed strategy feature-wise behind E5.

E3 costs $32/user/month and features endless mailbox and OneDrive storage. There is no cap to how many company users can be on E3 plans. It likewise features some of the leading security features readily available.

Why Business Premium and E3?-- Microsoft Intune

A graphic showing linked gadgets to Microsoft Intune

ITSG spotlights Business Premium and E3 as preferred M365 plans due to the fact that they offer many features that make your cloud experience much better.

The crucial feature that makes these strategies elite is Microsoft Intune, which controls gain access to for mobile phones, consisting of smart devices, tablets, and laptop computers.

It also allows managers to set extra security measures on non-company gadgets and limitations on what remote workers can access.

So why does that make Intune a gamechanger?

Anyone who has had to establish a brand-new computer system or smartphone has actually likely needed to invest hours tailoring their settings, restoring files, and remembering passwords.

Those days remain in the past with Intune, which allows you to produce a default image for deployment. When you established a brand-new computer, Intune permits you to hit the ground running without wasted time.

Paired together with Azure Active Directory, Intune eliminates the requirement to run your own server.

With top-shelf identity management and endpoint management in the cloud, Intune and Azure AD makes on-premise identity and endpoint management redundant.

Without any hassle and no server, Intune conserves time and money that you can designate elsewhere.

If you already have a server, Intune and Azure ADVERTISEMENT are still suitable with your environment.

Furthermore, with Azure sync, you can wed your on-premise and cloud servers to develop a hybrid setup, the ultimate choice for your IT.

Why Business Premium and E3?-- What else?

Beyond Intune, there are other features available in both Business Premium and E3 that make them stand above the less-expensive plans.

Both strategies come with You can find out more Microsoft's best-in-class interaction center, Teams, along with SharePoint Online and Planner.

Both Business Premium and E3 include Litigation Hold and eDiscovery, which are necessary features that safeguard your organization from losing data that is important to any legal procedures. Business Premium may run into storage issues if Litigation Hold is utilized to freeze too much information.

Security

The real worth you get with E3's cost boost is its extra security features, which are extensive. E3 includes Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA), Credential Guard, App Locker, Windows Information Protection (WIP), and the full version of Azure Active Directory.

E3 likewise comes with the ability to encrypt e-mails with the click of a button. This makes sure that delicate info is opened by the designated receiving celebration, who need to log in with a Microsoft or business account.

A screenshot of Outlook in Microsoft 365 E3, with how to position file encryption on an email.

Business Premium just features Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (previously referred to as Advanced Threat Protection).

Let's rapidly go over simply what you get with these functions.

The headliner here is ATA, which is a tool that analyzes the traffic being available in and out of your network, diagnosing the habits of entities within your company. By discovering the habits of users and other celebrations accessing your information, ATA can properly discover and alert you in the event that anything is suspicious.

Credential guard uses virtualized security to keep login credentials concealed from all software, other than for programs that require them. This additional security stores information in an isolated location to reduce the possibilities of credential theft.

AppLocker enables managers to control which files and applications that users have access to, including executable files and installer files. This safeguards you internally, as user error is a leading cause of cybersecurity breaches.

Mentioning user mistake, Windows Information Protection avoids the unintentional leakage of information by employees through email, social networks, and comparable apps. WIP signals users that their action will share or disclose work details before the action is validated. This security ends up being more crucial as staff members remain remote.

Furthermore, with WIP, companies can protect an archive after an employee leaves, while still deactivating their license.

All these features are looped with the full version of Azure Active Directory, where you can keep track of and govern your company's entire cloud environment. The full version permits extra features like group gain access to management, advanced security reports, multi-factor authentication with conditional access, and more.

Organization Premium's Microsoft Defender is a cloud-based email filter that recognizes malicious links and accessories before they enter your environment. Defender also identifies malicious files and links in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Defender suffices to protect your company general and is a great first step in protecting your cloud. If you desire the most protection Microsoft can provide, that will need among their business strategies.

E3 and its sophisticated security features enable companies to carefully stabilize which workers have access to perform which jobs, producing a streamlined, safe cloud environment.

Whatever else

If you are not as stressed over your security, consider some of the other features of E3 that you might miss out on with Business Premium.

One huge perk of E3 is the capability to access the Microsoft Office suite through a remote desktop, implying you can deploy its efficiency apps to shared computer systems in your business.

The ability to activate shared computers remotely likewise comes with E3. With remote desktop services, every user on your shared computer system can continue to deal with their files.

Unique to enterprise plans is Azure rights management, which secures data that is shared externally. When secured files are emailed to another business, the protection remains on the file.

Like Litigation Hold and eDiscovery, Azure rights management is crucial for compliance and might be required.

E3 even more solidifies your compliance with data loss prevention (DLP). If your organization manages sensitive, exclusive, or customer information, DLP can identify and secure it from being shared. Using