Why Introduce a New Microsoft 365?

Over time, we’ve all gotten familiar with just about every component of M365. So why a new Microsoft 365 now? Is there an alternative plan, and who is it benefiting the most?

For starters, all businesses will benefit, but it’s the smaller or mid-size businesses that will see a more significant bottom-line advantage. Now each can get a Windows 10 Pro license and Enterprise Mobility Suite capabilities regardless of their size. Their investment, believe it or not, is just a few pennies more a day than their current Office 365 subscription price. Instead of 0.42 cents a day, it’s 0.67 cents a day.

But having all of these products bundled together takes it a step further. For example, Microsoft’s AutoPilot requires integration between Microsoft Intune, Azure AD, and Windows 10. Now, all new management tasks, are entirely integrated together.

That’s the key. Gone are the days, when an entire operation, can eliminate the practice of piece by piece integration of applications and systems that don’t match.

Does Microsoft 365 Offer Different Versions or Editions?

Microsoft does offer targeted Microsoft 365 subscription bundles. By targeted we mean, there are six SaaS bundles per deployment as of this writing. They are:

1. Microsoft 365 F1: This bundle is for your “Firstline” workers. They are the face of your organization, and the tools they’ll use daily and included in the plan are Windows 10 Enterprise, Office 365 F1 and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS).
2. Microsoft 365 Business: When your business size is less than 300 users, this subscription is for you. The bundle includes EMS, Office 365, and Windows 10 Pro.
3. Microsoft 365 Enterprise: When your company exceeds more than 300 users, this bundle gives you two options: Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or Windows 10 Enterprise E5, plus each comes with Office 365 and EMS.
4. Microsoft 365 Nonprofit: Not-for-profit organizations are never forgotten. With this subscription plan, it resembles the full version of Microsoft 365 Business, but at a reduced rate.
5. Microsoft 365 Education: For classrooms, schools, higher education, and academic institutions, M365 bundles have three options: A1, A5, and AE.
6. Microsoft 365 Government: For U.S. government agencies and contractors holding controlled but unclassified information.

What Does Microsoft 365 Offer That Office 365 Doesn’t?

When it comes to Office applications, File & document viewing and editing, Collaboration services, Business applications, and a Maximum number of users (300), that’s where Office 365 stops. M365, on the other hand, covers that plus three areas of Device Management and three sections of Security.

But recently, May 2018, Microsoft announced the release of eight new developer tools only for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Those eight tools give developers the ability to “create smarter ways for people to work.”

What Are The Eight Developer Tools For Microsoft 365?

The new developer tools provide the flexibility needed to design experiences in the languages and frameworks of their choice. Microsoft 365, along with understanding from the Microsoft Graph, equips developers to build intelligent applications. The eight developer tools are the following:

• Expanded Microsoft Teams Capabilities: Teams app developers can now publish their creations to the Teams app store. Microsoft is adding organization-specific application support to Teams and its Slack competitor. It will also be changing its Teams API in Microsoft Graphs.
• Deeper Teams/SharePoint Integration: Developers will be able to add script-based frameworks to SharePoint pages to improve page organization. Pin SharePoint pages directly into Teams channels.
• Power BI Visualization in Excel: Custom BI visuals into Excel, Devs can now extend.
• Fluent Design System Updates: To give devs access to XAML Islands, regardless of UI stack, Fluent language updated to add UWP XAML Islands.
• Stand-alone .NET Environments: .NET Core 3.0 permits developers to build .NET applications in newer versions of .NET. They will run them in isolated situations that will not affect the rest of an organization’s infrastructure.
• All-in-one Containerization With MSIX: Microsoft advises that MSIX is a complete app containerization solution. It inherits all the best features of Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. Along with that, adding a managed security model, enterprise management tools, and access to the Microsoft Store.
• Excel Machine Learning Tools: Added to the Excel catalog of formulas were Azure Machine Learning and custom JavaScript functions.
• Educate Learning Machines in the Cloud and Deploy Locally: The new Windows Machine Learning platform will permit businesses to build and train machine learning models in the cloud to be implemented and run locally for better performance.

Where Can You Get Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 is now available by contacting any Microsoft Partner or a local sales representative. Pricing for each M365 version always varies and is dependant on what deployment is required.

Like this article? Check out, Can Business Benefit From Microsoft Office 365? And How To Reduce Vulnerability To Phishing When Using Office 365 or Check Our Latest Microsoft Office 365 Training Videos and discover more.

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