Selling Microsoft 365-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

As noted elsewhere in this book, many IT professionals are hesitant to buy into the idea of cloud-based services, and the cloud is the first and biggest buzzword for the Microsoft 365 product. As a result, Microsoft has devoted a great deal of time, effort, and expense to developing a product and a campaign that can convince people like these to adopt—or at least consider—Microsoft 365 as a viable route for the development of their enterprise infrastructures. The following sections discuss the key selling points for Microsoft 365 in four major areas.

Productivity

Few IT professionals must be sold on Microsoft Office productivity applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; they are industry standards virtually without competition. However, some do need to be sold on a cloud-based, subscription-based implementation such as Microsoft 365, as opposed to perpetual versions like Office 2019 and 2021. The selling points that make an effective case for Microsoft 365 include the following:

  • Applications Some people might think that with Microsoft 365, the productivity applications are accessible only from the cloud and that an Internet connection is required to run them. While the productivity applications are indeed accessible from the cloud with a Microsoft 365 subscription, most versions of the product also include fully installable desktop versions of the productivity applications, just like those in Office 2021.
  • Devices A perpetual Office 2021 license enables a user to install the productivity applications on a single computer; however, with a Microsoft 365 subscription, a user can install the applications on up to five PC, Mac, or mobile devices and sign in to any or all them at the same time. This means that users can run the Microsoft 365 applications on an office computer, a home computer, and a smartphone, plus two other devices, with a single license, while an Office 2021 user would need a separate license for each device.
  • Installation A Microsoft 365 license includes access to a cloud-based portal, with which users can install the productivity applications themselves on any computer. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions include no self-service portal access and require administrators to install the applications on each device.
  • Activation When users install the Microsoft 365 productivity applications from the self-service portal, they are automatically activated. They remain activated as long as the computers connect to the Office Licensing Service in the cloud at least once every 30 days. If a device exceeds the 30-day requirement, Microsoft 365 goes into reduced functionality mode, which limits the user to viewing and printing existing documents. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions in an enterprise environment require administrators to keep track of each license’s product key or utilize a network-based activation method, such as Key Management Service (KMS) or Multiple Activation Key (MAK). Once activated, Office 2021 installations do not require periodic reactivation.
  • Updates Microsoft 365 installations are automatically updated either monthly or semi-annually with the latest security, quality, and feature updates. Office 2021 and other on-premises versions receive security updates but no feature updates. There is also no upgrade path to Office’s next major on-premises version. For example, Office 2019 users must pay full price for a new license to install Office 2021.
  • Support Office 2021 and other perpetual versions include free technical support for the installation process only. Microsoft 365 subscriptions include free technical support for the life of the subscription.
  • Storage A Microsoft 365 subscription includes 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions do not include cloud storage.
  • Mobile apps Access to the Office mobile apps on devices with screens smaller than 10.1 inches with core editing functionality is free to everyone. Microsoft 365 subscribers receive extra features on all mobile apps. Users of Office 2021 or other perpetual versions do not receive the extra features.