One of the things our company has made our goal since 2002 is to help "level the playing field" by bringing big-company style solutions to smaller businesses. Back then, server-hosted solutions were the norm, which sometimes required substantial investment, especially for solutions that were considered "enterprise" software. Today, cloud services and subscription software licensing have helped to level that playing field even more. Many small businesses are finding they have access to features that wouldn't have made sense financially just a few years ago due to the large up-front costs involved.
Office 365 in particular has features that are only available as part of either their Enterprise offerings or one of the add-on Enterprise Mobility + Security packages. Despite having "Enterprise" in the names, we've found that many of these features are desirable, or even essential, for some smaller businesses. The lesson here is don't assume you should get the "Small Business" offerings just based on your size.
I'm listing here a few of those features or capabilities, in order to give you a sense of what's possible. This isn't intended as a comprehensive list of which offerings have which features, mostly because it would quickly become out of date. If you're in a small business, look through the list with an eye toward whether your business would benefit from any of these. If so, one of the "Enterprise" packages (and/or the Enterprise Mobility + Security add-ons) may be more appropriate for your organization than the "Small Business" offerings. And that's a great way to make that playing field more level.
- Software Remote Usage Rights. You probably know there are advantages to bundling your Office suite licensing (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) with your Office 365 subscription, such as the ability to install those apps on up to 5 PCs and Macs for each subscribed user's personal use. But if you want to remotely connect to a computer (such as your office PC from home, or a Remote Desktop Server) and run those programs in that remote session, only the "Enterprise" subscriptions include remote use rights.
- Multi-Factor Authentication. Are you concerned about relying only on passwords for your login security? Multi-Factor Authentication is an enterprise feature, improving security by verifying identity not just with a password, but also a phone call, text message, or mobile app notification.
- Conditional Access. Conditional Access uses machine learning to detect suspicious behavior and apply rules that will prompt a user with password challenge or Multi-factor Authentication requirements, to protect your company data in real time.
- Self-Service Password Resets. For our clients, we always set up syncing between Office 365 passwords and the password you use to login to your PC. That doesn't require Enterprise. But you can enhance your capabilities with a self-service portal that allows users to reset their own passwords and unlock their accounts, writing the new password back to the on-premises Active Directory so everything stays in sync.
- Mobile Security Options. Business small and large struggle with how to manage company information when it's on mobile devices, whether company-owned or employee-provided. Office 365 offers a variety of options that can help solve these issues:
- Persistent Permissions. Define usage rights for your data that are persistent regardless of where the data is stored or shared (essentially "tattooing" the permissions into the document itself). Establish permissions that are enforced anywhere the file is accessed.
- Embrace BYOD. Manage company apps, provide access to company resources and protect company data, even on employee-owned mobile devices. Publish, configure, and update mobile apps on user devices, and secure or remove app-associated corporate data without resorting to full-device wipe. Especially helpful if your staff use their own devices for work. You can't wipe the device if they leave the company, but you can wipe your company data and apps from the device.
- Control Data Sharing. Restrict actions in Office mobile apps such as cut, copy, paste, and save as, to protect your information from leaking out of your control.
- Archive Email. Exchange email archiving will preserve your mail while you keep your primary mailbox organized and light.
- Legal Hold and eDiscovery. Legal hold will prevent email from being deleted, and eDiscovery features help reduce costly searches for information, especially when required for legal matters.
- Add Dial-in Access for Meetings. Set up online meetings and web conferencing using Skype or Teams, and give participants optional dial-in numbers to join the meeting by phone.
- Phone System in the Cloud. Microsoft's Cloud PBX offers the promise of replacing your phone system, especially as new advanced features are being added over time.
- Cloud App Security. "Shadow IT" can be a big problem for large and small businesses, as end-users make use of unsanctioned cloud services to share files, etc. Cloud App Security gives you insight into what cloud apps your users are using, lets you control and limit access in real time, and get alerts of high-risk and unusual behavior.
Fortunately for those of us in small businesses, although Microsoft calls these "Enterprise" features, there isn't a minimum number of seats required to use an Enterprise subscription. In reality, any size business is welcome to purchase any of the packages that they would find useful. With the right subscription, and the right setup and support from your IT Service Provider, there is no reason your business can't play on the same field as the industry giants when it comes to Modern Workplace cloud technology.
Drop me a line or give me a call if you'd like to discuss how your organization may benefit from these or other Office 365 cloud services, along with a better quality of IT Service.