Microsoft 365
The productivity and security platform for modern businesses
Overview
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is the cloud-based productivity suite that underpins most UK business IT. Beyond the familiar Office apps, M365 Business Premium includes Intune, Defender for Endpoint, Entra ID P1, and Purview — making it a foundational security platform as much as a productivity tool.
Why Use It
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the best-value security and productivity bundle available for UK SMBs. The security tools included (Intune, Defender, Entra ID P1) would cost significantly more purchased separately.
Why Not
Google Workspace is a viable alternative for organisations wanting simplicity. However, the security tooling bundled with M365 Business Premium is difficult to match with Google's ecosystem.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Business Premium bundles Intune, Defender, Entra ID P1 — exceptional value
- Familiar productivity apps reduce training overhead
- Strong compliance and data protection tools (Purview)
- Continuous feature investment from Microsoft
- UK data residency available for all M365 services
Cons
- Licensing complexity — many features require add-ons or higher tiers
- Feature sprawl — most organisations use a fraction of what's available
- Teams performance can degrade without proper network configuration
- Data governance requires careful Purview configuration
- Price increases have outpaced inflation in recent years
How to Get the Most Out of It
- Audit your licences quarterly — unused Business Premium licences represent significant wasted spend
- Enable Microsoft Secure Score to get a prioritised list of security improvements
- Use Purview Compliance Manager to track regulatory requirements (GDPR, ISO 27001)
- Configure Microsoft Teams network assessment tool before large deployments
- Enable Customer Lockbox to prevent Microsoft engineers accessing your data without approval