Microsoft wants to lure companies into the Microsoft 365 subscription

Microsoft is urging corporate customers with perpetual Office licenses to switch to Microsoft 365 subscriptions. It promises easier team collaboration and simpler access to files and programs for mobile working. Microsoft also advertises access to AI tools and lower IT costs through the subscription, as it also includes applications for video conferencing and an email service, which would otherwise incur additional costs.

Microsoft advertises M365 subscription with 223 percent return on investment

In a blog post, Microsoft refers to a specially commissioned study by the consulting and market research company Forrester. According to the study, a subscription to Microsoft 365 for Business has a payback period of less than six months and enables companies to achieve a return on investment of 223 percent over three years. Furthermore, the subscription reduces the time required for collaborative work by one and a half hours per user. It also reduces the time required for IT support by 686 hours per year.

M365: Baselines for tenant settings, information security and data protection

In this training course, administrators with initial contact with M365 and people involved in the introduction of M365 in organizations will learn how to use Microsoft 365 securely and learn about important measures for data protection, compliance and information security.

It answers questions such as: How do I introduce Microsoft 365 as a secure platform in my organization? What technical measures can be implemented and what impact do they have on the various functions in M365? What organizational and technical measures do I need to consider?

Registration and dates at heise.de/s/xKN22

The basic Microsoft 365 for Business plan includes Office programs as web apps, email services, video conferencing and one terabyte of cloud storage per employee. The monthly subscription costs EUR 6.72 net per month and user. The standard edition for 14.04 euros provides additional access to the desktop applications of the Office suite and the video editing tool Clipchamp. The Premium version adds Entra ID, Microsoft Defender and Purview for 24.72 euros net per month and user. No tariff includes the AI assistant Microsoft Copilot 365, which can only be booked as an add-on.

Alternatively, Microsoft 365 Apps for Business is a plan that only includes the desktop applications of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, as well as OneDrive storage. Web and mobile apps are not included for €11.76 per month and user. The business tariffs are aimed at small and medium-sized companies, while separate Microsoft 365 packages are available for large companies, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. Most recently, the open-source collaboration platform Nextcloud Hub brought an open-source AI agent with the update to version 10.

(sfe)