Organization Size and Market – Identify Licensing Options Available in Microsoft 365

Organization Size and Market

In addition to choosing what type of sovereign cloud and licensing route to go, you must also choose licensing based on what size organization you have. Microsoft has different licensing packages depending on how many users will be included:

• Microsoft 365 for home: There are two subscriptions available for personal use, Microsoft 365 Personaland Microsoft 365 Family. The main difference between them is the number of supported users, which corresponds to six in the family plan versus one in the personal plan.

• Microsoft 365 Business: This bundle is intended for small to medium-sized businesses with up to 300 employees. Microsoft 365 Business offers a compelling mix of features and basic service plans. Microsoft 365 Business does not include advanced compliance features such as retention or the unlimited storage of Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans. It also does not include Windows 10. The available Business plans are Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Apps for Business, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium. This last one, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, is the only plan that includes Intune and Azure Information Protection.

• Microsoft 365 Commercial (E-series or F-series): These SKU packages are intended for enterprise organizations with variations across the employee usage profile (sometimes referred to as personas). Most large commercial organizations pick a mix of SKUs from this family of services, including SKUs for personas, termed as information workers or knowledge workers, as well as personas such as frontline workers (sometimes referred to as line workers, front-of-house employees, or shift workers). These SKUs are available worldwide, though some may be reformulated slightly due to encryption and export restrictions or when there are restrictions in place due to sovereign cloud agreements. Microsoft 365 includes Windows, as well as advanced features. Microsoft 365 E-seriesplans come with three licensing levels (E1, E3, and E5), with E5 having additional advanced compliance, productivity, and security features available. Some of the key differences between the E and F series are that some E-series plans include 100 GB mailboxes and unlimited OneDrive for Business storage, while F-series plans are limited to 2 GB mailboxes and 1 TB of OneDrive for Business storage.

•   Microsoft 365 A-series: This set of SKUs is typically used by educational institutions. Educational SKUs exist in the commercial environment and share the same infrastructure but are available at deeply discounted rates to qualifying organizations. Microsoft 365 A-series SKUs are comparable to their E-series counterparts.

• Microsoft 365 G-series: The G SKUs are reserved for US government public sector entities, such as federal, state, and local municipality governments or dedicated contractors. These SKUs are not available in commercial or other sovereign clouds. These SKUs are tied to a separate sovereign infrastructure that is wholly inside the United States and is FedRAMP certified. These FedRAMP-certified environments are commonly referred to as GCC-Moderate, GCC-High, and GCC-DOD. Organizations that require compliance with IRS Publication 1075 and Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) typically choose the GCC environments, as do organizations that require United States-based data residency. Like the Microsoft 365 E-series plans, the G-series is also available in two licensing levels (G3 and G5), with a higher level having more advanced productivity, security, and compliance features. G-series SKUs typically don’t feature all of the services of commercial SKUs as products must go through additional certification and validation before being offered.

• Individual licenses: In addition to the ability to acquire bundled SKU licenses, organizations in any cloud (commercial, public sector, or sovereign) can also acquire individual licenses, either as add-ons to bundles or as standalone products.

That covers the basics of licensing. For complex licensing scenarios, consult a Microsoft reseller or your Microsoft account team.