Microsoft 365 Organization Premium vs E3, and One Powerful Tool in Both That Will Revolutionize Your IT
So, you've decided upon Microsoft 365 and the Azure cloud for your service. Congratulations. We think you've made the ideal choice.
Now that you've selected M365, it is time to pick a plan. While there are many to select from, IT Support Guys usually handles M365's Business Premium and E3 (enterprise) offerings.
Other strategies like Business Standard and E5 have their advantages, however we find that thinking about Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs E3 provides companies the best bundle of features that are essential for any organization.
In this post, we will cover the differences in between Business Premium and Microsoft's very first business offering. You may find that neither offering is for you, going with the more economical Business Standard plan, or the immersive E5 strategy.
Remember, for the purposes of this post, all recommendations to "E3" specify to Microsoft 365 E3. This strategy is various from the legacy E3 offering, referred to as "Microsoft Office E3."If you have a concern about any of these strategies or want to consult our tech experts on which M365 package will move your business outermost forward, get on a call with us as soon as possible.
What is Microsoft 365?
A style illustrating Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs E3
Microsoft 365 is Microsoft's membership efficiency suite that can tie all of your preferred Microsoft Office applications together with world-class cloud abilities and air-tight security.
M365 comes packaged in numerous different prepare for house, company, and business. With varying costs and features, Microsoft gives you alternatives for what plan fits your scenario the very best.
What is Azure cloud?
Graphic illustrating several computer systems sending information approximately the Microsoft Azure cloud, a crucial element of Microsoft 365 Business Premium vs. E3 Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform that was launched in 2010, resolving issues including storage, computation, and analysis of information through virtualization.
Azure offers solutions like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

What is Business Premium?
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is M365's leading offering for little to medium-sized organizations, an upgrade on its Business Basic and Business Standard offerings.
Company Premium costs $20 per user each month and features a 50 GB mailbox storage limit and a 1 TB storage limit in OneDrive. Only 300 Business Premium licenses can be appointed to a business before it need to start buying enterprise plans.
What is E3?
Microsoft 365 E3 is M365's preliminary enterprise strategy, being available in as the second-most loaded strategy feature-wise behind E5.
E3 costs $32/user/month and includes limitless mail box and OneDrive storage. There is no cap to how many company users can be on E3 plans. It likewise comes with some of the leading security functions offered.
Why Business Premium and E3?-- Microsoft Intune
A graphic showing linked gadgets to Microsoft Intune
ITSG spotlights Business Premium and E3 as favored M365 plans since they supply many features that make your cloud experience better.The key function that makes these strategies elite is Microsoft Intune, which manages gain access to for mobile devices, including smart devices, tablets, and laptops.
It also allows supervisors to set additional security measures on non-company gadgets and limits on what remote employees can gain access to.
Why does that make Intune a gamechanger?
Anyone who has had to set up a new computer or smart device has likely needed to invest hours tailoring their settings, restoring files, and keeping in mind passwords.
Those days are in the past with Intune, which enables you to produce a default image for implementation. When you set up a new computer system, Intune enables you to strike the ground running without lost time.Paired together with Azure Active Directory, Intune gets rid of the need to run your own server.
With top-shelf identity management and endpoint management in the cloud, Intune and Azure AD makes on-premise identity and endpoint management redundant.
With no hassle and no server, Intune saves time and money that you can assign in other places.If you currently have a server, Intune managed it services gold coast and Azure AD are still compatible with your environment.
Furthermore, with Azure sync, you can marry your on-premise and cloud servers to create a hybrid setup, the ultimate choice for your IT.
Why Business Premium and E3?-- What else?
Beyond Intune, there are other features available in both Business Premium and E3 that make them stand above the less-expensive strategies.
Both plans feature Microsoft's best-in-class communication center, Teams, along with SharePoint Online and Planner.Both Business Premium and E3 include Litigation Hold and eDiscovery, which are important features that secure your organization from losing data that is critical to any legal procedures. Although, Business Premium may encounter storage issues if Litigation Hold is utilized to freeze too much information.
Security
The real worth you get with E3's cost boost is its additional security features, which are extensive. E3 comes with Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA), Credential Guard, App Locker, Windows Information Protection (WIP), and the complete variation of Azure Active Directory.
E3 also features the ability to secure emails with the click of a button. This makes sure that delicate information is opened by the designated getting celebration, who must visit with a Microsoft or service account.
A screenshot of Outlook in Microsoft 365 E3, with how to place encryption on an email.
Business Premium only features Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (previously referred to as Advanced Threat Protection).
Let's quickly discuss simply what you get with these features.
The headliner here is ATA, which is a tool that analyzes the traffic coming in and out of your network, diagnosing the behavior of entities within your company. By learning the behavior of users and other parties accessing your data, ATA can properly find and signal you in the event that anything is suspicious.Credential guard uses virtualized security to keep login qualifications hidden from all software application, except for programs that need them. This extra security shops information in an isolated location to decrease the chances of credential theft.
AppLocker allows managers to control which files and applications that users have access to, consisting of executable files and installer files. This secures you internally, as user error is a leading cause of cybersecurity breaches.
Mentioning user error, Windows Information Protection prevents the unexpected leakage of information by staff members through email, social media, and comparable apps. WIP notifies users that their action will share or divulge work information prior to the action is confirmed. This defense becomes more crucial as staff members stay remote.
Additionally, with WIP, companies can protect an archive after an employee leaves, while still deactivating their license.All these functions are tied together with the full variation of Azure Active Directory, where you can keep track of and govern your business's entire cloud environment. The complete variation permits additional functions like group gain access to management, advanced security reports, multi-factor authentication with conditional access, and more.
Company Premium's Microsoft Defender is a cloud-based e-mail filter that recognizes destructive links and attachments prior to they enter your environment. Defender likewise determines malicious files and links in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams.

E3 and its advanced security features enable organizations to thoroughly stabilize which employees have access to perform which tasks, developing a structured, safe cloud environment.
Whatever else
If you are not as fretted about your security, consider a few of the other features of E3 that you may miss out on with Business Premium.
One big perk of E3 is the capability to access the Microsoft Office suite via a remote desktop, indicating you can deploy its performance apps to shared computers in your company.The ability to trigger shared computer systems remotely also includes E3. With remote desktop services, every user on your shared computer system can continue to work on their files.
Special to enterprise strategies is Azure rights management, which secures data that is shared externally. When safeguarded files are emailed to another business, the security remains on the file.
Like Litigation Hold and eDiscovery, Azure rights management is important for compliance and may be needed.
E3 even more solidifies your compliance with data loss prevention (DLP). If your organization deals with sensitive, exclusive, or customer information, DLP can identify and secure it from being shared. Utilizing "deep content analysis" and data-matching through keywords, DLP will display a pop-up notification that alerts users before sharing flagged information.
Other enterprise-only functions include Excel PowerPivot, and PowerQuery, along with Infopath, an application for dispersing and submitting electronic forms. In-place archiving for Exchange is also limited to business.
These are simply some of the extra features of E3, with more that are presently present, and more that will be included over time. If you think any of these functions might be something you require, make sure to reach out to ITSG before deciding.
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 Business Premium provides your company whatever it needs to run and grow. That's why we recommend it to all our clients.
Safety and security are a should for modern-day companies, however, and if your service is managing sensitive information or has stringent compliance regulations-- E3 may be your best alternative. Making this option might not be an easy job. If you are an organization larger than 300 workers, it may be a choice that is produced you.