From Office 365 to
Microsoft 365
As if the
topic of licensing in the Microsoft environment is not complex enough, we will
now have a license package called Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 was announced
last year at the partner conference in July 2017. The first two versions
(Business and Enterprise) were available from the beginning of August 2017.
" A
complete, intelligent solution, including Office 365, Windows 10, and
Enterprise Mobility + Security, that empowers everyone to be creative and work
together, securely." With this claim Microsoft advertises the license
package. But what exactly is behind it and why is it interesting for customers?
Microsoft
365 is the logical continuation of the license package SPE (Secure Productive
Enterprise). SPE includes Office 365, Windows 10, Enterprise Mobility +
Security and on-prem licenses for SharePoint, Exchange and Skype for Business
Server. This provides customers in a transition phase or hybrid model with an
optimized license package for security and compliance, Office 365 licensing,
Windows licensing and on-prem Office Server licenses. Microsoft 365 now offers
this combination for customers who already work completely in the cloud with
their processes and solutions.
Okay, and why should I
care as a customer?
Not only because
of GDPR, the topic of data protection and data security is very interesting in these
days. Many Office 365 projects have seen the light of day, focusing on
functionality, IT and architectural aspects. In the course of the project, the
works council, the data protection officer or IT security usually came to the
conclusion that a building block was still missing. Since everyone can now
access company data from anywhere and with any end device, compliance and
security aspects must also be addressed. The functions & features to
implement such requirements are of course available with Microsoft services
such as Intune, Cloud App Security or the Azure AD Premium Features. However,
it quickly becomes clear that these features are not included in a standard
Office 365 E1 or F1 license.
The
"Wannacry" attack is still in all our memories. This attack on
Windows operating systems has not least sharpened the awareness of how
important it is to install current Windows patches and to have an up-to-date
virus scanner. To address scenarios like this Windows Defender Advanced Threat
Protection as part of Windows 10 Enterprise or for example Microsoft Advanced
Threat Analytics are also included in Microsoft 365, depending on the license
package.
From a business perspective, Microsoft 365
covers the following scenarios (depending on licensing details):
- Identity
and access control
- Manage
mobile devices and apps
- Protect
and encrypt data
- Protection
against cyber attacks
- Office
365 licensing (SharePoint, Exchange, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams,
Yammer, etc.)
- Windows
10 Licensing
From a technical point of view, the following
products and functions (depending on licensing details) are part of M365:
- Azure
Active Directory (AD) Premium
- Cloud
App Security
- Microsoft
Intune
- Azure
Information Protection
- Microsoft
Advanced Threat Analytics
- Windows
Defender Advanced Threat Protection
- Windows
10
- Office
365 Licensing
What do I need to know to
use Microsoft 365?
The license
package Microsoft 365 is available in different versions. The functions listed
above depend in detail on the respective license level. The following table
gives an overview:
- Microsoft
365 Enterprise is suitable for companies with approximately 300 employees or
more. This version is available in E3 or E5 and includes Office 365, Windows 10
Enterprise and the EMS features.
- Microsoft
365 Business is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Windows 10 Pro,
Office 365 and the EMS functions are included.
- Microsoft
365 F1 focuses on firstline workers. This version includes Windows 10
Enterprise, Office 365 F1 and EMS.
- Microsoft
365 Education is intended for schools and universities and is available in A1,
AE and A5 versions.
More
details can be found on the official Microsoft 365
page, and all products that are part of Microsoft 365 can still be licensed
separately.
What will change with the
use of Microsoft 365?
Traditionally,
even in medium-sized companies a split into Exchange Team, AD Team, SharePoint
Team, Client & Server Team, etc. is normal. With Office 365 all departments
have to work much more closely. If the extended functions of Microsoft 365 are
now added, close coordination with the IT security department, the data
protection officer and the works council must be supplemented.
In
addition, as part of the IT strategy, this new Microsoft 365-Team, as part of company
IT department, must now have knowledge of all the products involved. Microsoft
365-Team needs to know about Intune, Cloud App Security, Windows Defender etc.
and their dependencies, interfaces and interaction options. Education and
training are a must.
And what do I need to know
as a developer?
At first glance, Microsoft 365 seems to be only
for the license manager and the IT administrator. That would have been a little
too short. Microsoft gave an outlook on the Graph API roadmap at the Build
Conference in May 2018. It can be deduced from this that the services involved
in Microsoft 365 are also integrated in this API in the future. Already today,
the common API for online services such as Exchange, SharePoint, Office 365
Groups and Teams etc. play an important role for developers. The Microsoft
Graph API will become the central endpoint for all cloud services.
