Office 365 Plans for Large Businesses

[September 15, 2014 note: A more recent version of this report, updated to reflect licensing changes, can be found at www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/research/secured/2014/09/office-365-evaluation-guide-office-365-plans-large-businesses.]

Office 365 is a set of service plans that combines Microsoft-hosted online services with subscription licenses to the Office suite and related software. With Office 365 plans, businesses can outsource infrastructure and administration for Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync Server, and use per-user subscription licensing for Office and other products to simplify compliance and reduce costs. Office 365 now provides most of the same functions as the corresponding software licensed on-premises, but the large selection of plans means that organizations will have to choose carefully to ensure they can perform the functions they need.

This report outlines Office 365 packaging and licensing for large businesses buying in volume licensing programs. It does not address small business, government, or educational customers, although some of the same licensing principles apply. A few large businesses might use the Office 365 Midsize Business suite, although there are technical and licensing reasons not to. (See the sidebar “Office 365 Midsize Business“.) Microsoft also offers Office 365 dedicated services hosted on server hardware dedicated to a specific customer, for commercial enterprises with 30,000 users or more, and for government agencies. This report focuses on the far more common multitenant offerings.