Microsoft 365 is the backbone of daily work for most small businesses: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, OneDrive. But Microsoft does not make it easy to work out which licence is the right one. The result: many businesses overpay.
We see this regularly with new clients. A business with 12 employees, everyone on Microsoft 365 E5 — costing just under €44 per user per month. On closer inspection, nobody is using the advanced compliance features. After switching to Business Standard, the company saves over €4,000 a year.
The three licence families at a glance
- Business Basic (€5.60/user/month): Web and mobile versions of Office, Exchange, Teams, OneDrive. No desktop Office apps. For employees who mainly use email and Teams.
- Business Standard (€10.50/user/month): Everything in Basic, plus the desktop apps. The right choice for most employees in small businesses.
- Business Premium (€20.60/user/month): Everything in Standard, plus enhanced security: Intune, Defender for Office 365. Worthwhile for businesses with elevated security requirements.
The most common mistakes
- Everyone on the same licence. The accounts assistant who only needs Outlook and Excel does not need a Premium licence. Conversely, the managing director who travels frequently might need exactly those features.
- E5 licences from the early days. E5 costs €36.40 per user. Most of the features that distinguish E5 from E3 are not used by small businesses.
- Duplicate services. OneDrive and Dropbox running in parallel. Teams and Zoom running in parallel. Every duplicate solution means licence costs and confusion.
What an optimisation looks like
In the first step we review which licences are assigned and which features are actually being used. In the second step we assign each employee the appropriate licence. In the third step we consolidate any duplicate solutions.
Concrete example: Architecture firm with 12 employees.
Before: 12 × E5 + Dropbox = €580/month (€6,969/year)
After: mix of Business Standard, E3, Basic = €148/month (€1,774/year)
Saving: €5,195/year.
If you have not reviewed your Microsoft 365 licences in the past year, you are probably overpaying. An optimisation takes half a day and often saves several thousand euros per year.