About Microsoft 365 Business Standard: Everything You Need to Know

Microsoft 365 Business is the best choice for entrepreneurs who struggle with creating documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows. However, as Microsoft provides Basic, Standard, and Premium plans, it can be difficult to choose the right one for your needs.

If you have doubts about choosing the Premium plan or want to use an alternative to Microsoft 365 Business, you are at the right place. Keep reading to find the comparison between different subscription plans and make a learned buying decision.  

What is Microsoft 365 Business Standard?

Microsoft 365 Business Standard is a software suite that allows business owners to handle their documentation needs. Compared to the Personal and Family versions, Microsoft 365 Business Standard provides many great features suited for businesses.

For example, this suite allows users to create shared calendars and email boxes. It also makes it easier for team members to collaborate on articles in real time.

Microsoft Business 365 Standard

The standard version of Microsoft Business 365 packs a lot of power for all those business owners who have small teams and want to handle their documentation needs. Here is a brief overview of this suite:

Functions

The Microsoft Business 365 Standard version is fully useful for businesses that have remote teams. It provides outstanding collaboration tools for users. With cloud storage, team members can share files with each other and handle tasks easily.

Features

Here is an overview of the features of Microsoft Business 365 Standard:

Number of users

The Microsoft Business 365 Standard allows a maximum of 300 users to work under the same plan. With this many team members on a single plan, a business can meet its documentation needs without finding difficulties in the workflow.

Cloud services

The good thing about this plan is that it gives access to these cloud services:

• Teams

• Exchange

• OneDrive

• SharePoint

Using these tools can simplify the workflow for any team. With all the data stored in the cloud, a business can rest assured about its data security and focus on important tasks.

Web and software

One of the biggest challenges for various businesses is using tools that are platform-agnostic. If you have a diverse team that uses different operating systems, then you can rely on Microsoft 365 Business Standard.

The good thing about this software is that it provides access to web versions of the following:

• Word

• Excel

• PowerPoint

• OneNote

• Outlook

Using this suite allows teams to use real-time coauthoring on the same document. This suite also comes with support for five smartphones and five tablets and allows users on these devices to access up-to-date versions of the tools mentioned above.

Compatibility

The Microsoft 365 Business Standard suite is compatible with computers that run Windows 8.1 or a new version of the Windows operating system. It is also compatible to run on the two latest versions of macOS.

Prices

The price of Microsoft 365 Business Standard is $12.50 every month. As of now, the subscription plan renews automatically and comes with an annual subscription. You can use the 1-month free trial to find out if you should use this plan for your business or not.

Pros and Cons

These are the amazing benefits of Microsoft 365 Business Standard:

• The pricing is ideal for small businesses.

• It provides 1 TB of cloud storage.

• It gives real-time collaboration support.

Here are some of the downsides:

• It is limited to only 300 users.

• It lacks Advanced threat protection for businesses.

• It doesn't provide PC and mobile device management.

Comparison of Basic, Standard, and Premium: Which One to Choose?

The process of comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different plans one by one can take a lot of time and effort. To make things easier for you, we have summed up the details in the table given below.

Which One to Choose

Here is a short overview to help you decide which version is the best suited for your business needs:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic

The Basic plan is perfect for those teams who have limited operations and don't want to use the desktop version of Office Suite products. This plan doesn't provide real-time collaboration, which is not important for teams that don't rely heavily on collaboration.

• Microsoft 365 Business Standard

The Standard plan is a great choice for small businesses that heavily rely on documentation and real-time collaboration. It also provides ample space on cloud storage for meeting business needs.

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium

This plan is fit for those businesses who need to protect their data from hackers and prying eyes. It also gives access to the device management feature that allows business owners and managers to manage employees' access to Office tools.

All the versions of Microsoft 365 Business Plan are only suited for small teams. If you run a big business and want to subscribe to a plan that comes with advanced features and allows more than 300 users to use the same plan, you can consider switching to the Microsoft 365 Enterprise edition.

Compare Business Version with Enterprise Version

Microsoft 365 Enterprise edition provides several advantages over the Microsoft 365 Business version. Here is a brief overview of the differences to help you make the right decision.

Features

Here is a comparison of Microsoft 365 Business with Microsoft 365 Enterprise:

• Mail Features

Microsoft 365 Business only provides 50 GB of storage for handling emails. On the other hand, Microsoft 365 Enterprise allows you to store emails on 100 GB to ensure you can maintain better communication with your clients.

• CAL Rights

Microsoft 365 Enterprise provides access to the ECAL rights. With this right, a business can build and run local hosts for better management and protection of data. Here are the apps that can run on ECAL rights:

• Exchange

• SharePoint

• Skype

• Analytics

Microsoft 365 Enterprise makes it easier for business owners to make sense of the data. Here are the tools that this plan provides that any plan of Microsoft 365 Business lacks:

• Advanced Excel

• Delve Analytics

• Power BI Pro

• Skype for Businesses

Microsoft 365 Enterprise also allows users to have access to advanced features with Skype. For example, Microsoft 365 Enterprise users can use these features to boost communication processes:

• PSTN Conferencing

• Cloud PBX

• Meeting Broadcast

• Intune

Microsoft 365 Enterprise comes with Intune, a feature that is not included in Microsoft 365 Business suite. This tool allows organizations to manage access to data and applications through smartphones.

• Litigation Hold

Microsoft 365 Enterprise saves businesses from legal problems in the future with the Litigation Hold feature. With this feature, businesses can recover deleted and modified emails to better manage legal contracts.

Number of users

Microsoft 365 Enterprise can provide unlimited users on a single subscription plan. On the other hand, any plan of Microsoft 365 Business can only give access to 300 users at one time.

Prices

Microsoft 365 Enterprise starts with a higher base monthly fee of $8 per month. However, the subscription fee for the Basic version of Microsoft 365 Business starts with a monthly fee of $6 for a single user.

Security

Microsoft 365 Enterprise is a complete package for the diverse security needs of an organization. Here are the security features included in this plan:

• Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics

• Device Guard

• App Locker

There are some other features that are included in the Enterprise edition. However, Microsoft 365 Business only provides Advanced Threat Protection, which might not be suitable for businesses that need to protect sensitive data.

Download, Install, and Activate Microsoft 365 Business

Follow these simple steps:

Launch your preferred web browser and go to the office.com website.

• Proceed with signing in if you have an account or create a new one.

• Find the "Buy Microsoft 365" button and click the "See business plans" button from the popup window.

• On the new website, click on the "Buy now" button on your desired plan to get started.

• Provide your desired Email ID in the given box and proceed with the instructions provided.

With these steps, you can download and activate the Microsoft 365 Business plan of your liking.

Add and Remove Users with Admin Account

The good thing about subscribing to a plan of Microsoft 365 Business is that you can add or remove users whenever you want. Here are the two simple steps you can follow to save your time and effort when managing users:

How to Add the New Employee as Microsoft 365 Business Users?

Follow these steps:

• Launch your browser and open the admin.microsoft.com website.

• Navigate to the dashboard and click on the "Users" button.

• Go to the "Active users" option and proceed by choosing the "Add a user" option.

• Move on to the "Assign product licenses" tab.

• Finally, click on the "Finish adding" button to complete the process.

• Ask your employee to use the new sign-in information on the office.com website.

How to Remove the User Account of a Former Employee?

Follow these simple steps:

Visit the Admin panel by going to the admin.microsoft.com website.

• Navigate to the option of "Users" and choose "Active users" to proceed.

• Select the name of the employee and proceed with the "Delete user" option.

WPS Office

If you are looking for a great alternative to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, you should consider WPS Office. Here is a brief overview of WPS Office to help you understand its powerful features:

Basic Information

The WPS Office suite contains Writer, Spreadsheet, Presentation, and PDF tools in one suite. Users can access this suite on both smartphones and computers. The good thing about this suite is that it is compact in size and can be used for free.

Functions and Features

WPS Office has all the features that users of Microsoft 365 Office rely on to get meet their documentation needs. It also allows users to collaborate online and ensure that people can collaborate in real time.

Pros

• WPS Office is free to use and doesn't serve ads at all.  

• This suite allows users to edit and export files in Office file formats.

• It has an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that is ideal for new users.

Download WPS Office

WPS Office can be downloaded easily within seconds. On your desktop, you can visit https://www.wps.com/ to get the installer on your computer and proceed with the installation process.

You can visit the App Store and Play Store on your iOS and Android devices, respectively, to start using WPS Office.

FAQs about Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Can I share my Office 365 business subscription?

The good thing about Office 365 Subscription is that you can easily add more people to the subscription pool and allow them to use Microsoft Apps.

Can I use my Office 365 business account on multiple computers?

The good thing about Microsoft 365 Business is that it allows the admin to sign in on five devices at the same time. For example, you can use it simultaneously on your Tablet, Smartphone, and PC.

How secure is Microsoft 365 Business Standard?

Microsoft 365 Business Standard has great security features you can rely on to meet your cybersecurity needs. Here is an overview of the features you will get:

• Data encryption

• Advanced threat protection

• Security policies

• Access to data

Manage your Documentation The Right Way

Microsoft 365 Business Standard is a great package if you have a small business and want to meet your documentation needs. However, if you want an affordable alternative, you can consider using WPS Office.

With WPS Office, you can create all sorts of documents in one place. This software comes with all the leading features you can rely on to meet your business needs without compromising on anything。