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At Cloud Essentials, we spend a lot of time analysing licence package and add-on possibilities for enterprise clients in a variety of different verticals. Our most common recommendation – particularly for legal and financial services with more complex threat protection, IAM, compliance and analytics requirements – is the Microsoft 365 E5 licence.

Of course, Microsoft 365 E5 has a rather startling price tag in comparison to the lower-level enterprise licence options. We’ve had more than few raised eyebrows from customers at costing time.

Thankfully, when you take a closer look at the functionality bundled into the licence fee (and the number of expensive 3rd-party solutions it effectively replaces), the value proposition becomes a lot more obvious.

Microsoft 365 and Office 365: what’s the difference?

First off, let’s clarify: Microsoft 365 and Office 365 are not the same thing. Microsoft 365 is a package deal that bundles Office 365 with Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS). There are three Microsoft 365 licence plans:

• Microsoft 365 E3, which includes O365 E3, Windows 10 and EMS
• Microsoft 365 E5, which includes O365 E5, Windows 10, EMS and the latest Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), security and collaboration tools
• Microsoft 365 F1, designed for frontline workers

Our preference for Microsoft 365 E5 is based largely on its ATP, security and analytics capabilities, but it delivers incredible value – and savings – on a number of fronts.

Let’s take a look.

Microsoft 365 E5 features that give the most bang for your buck

Microsoft Teams (previously Skype for Business) full package

Potential savings: $$$

On an E3 licence, Teams is a valuable collaboration tool. On an E5 licence, it becomes a comprehensive phone system that can effectively replace your enterprise telephony altogether (region dependent). It includes:

• Instant messaging
• In- and outbound call functionality
• Call routing, auto-attendants and call queues
• Voicemail
• Audio and video conferencing
• Call recording with transcription * NB Microsoft calling plans are currently only available in certain regions – check yours here)

Power BI Pro

Potential savings: $$$

Visual analytics and data modelling tools are notoriously expensive, as are the consultants that enterprises generally have to hire to implement them. On a Microsoft 365 E5 licence, however, business get free access to Power BI Pro: Microsoft’s self-service BI platform that delivers just as much functionality as top 3rd-party solutions with less complexity and lower costs. Read more on that here.

Advanced eDiscovery

Potential savings: $$$$$

eDiscovery is another area in which Microsoft 365 E5 punches well above its weight. In fact, if it delivered nothing more than this functionality, its licence fees would still be money well spent for a lot of customers.

By adding powerful analytics capabilities (as well as basic review tools) to the in-place search, in-place hold, and export functionality available in lower level licence plans, Microsoft 365 E5 enables businesses to perform large parts of the eDiscovery process in-house. This has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees and reduce eDiscovery timelines by a significant amount.

Identity & Access Management

Potential savings: $$

Leveraging Azure Active Directory (P2) functionality, Microsoft 365 E5 adds Identity Protection and Privileged Identity Management (PIM) to the foundational IAM of Office 365’s E5 license plan. These value-adding features provide next-level control over the security of user identities and permitted access and/or roles – the number one entry point for most targeted threats and malware attacks.

Microsoft 365 E5 Security

Thanks to this functionality, enterprises on Microsoft 365 E5 can (amongst other things):

• Detect vulnerabilities in user identities
• Detect and proactively prevent compromised identities from being abused
• Require approval for specific admin role changes or permissions
• Track granted admin rights and changes within admin groups
• Enable on-demand, just-in-time admin access for specific workflows

It would be a real challenge to find a 3rd-party solution that could provide anywhere near this level of environment-wide, integrated protection. There’s certainly no reason to keep paying for one if you’re on Microsoft 365 E5.

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)

Potential savings: $$

Between Windows Defender ATP (network attack/data breach prevention), Office 365 ATP (email filtering) and Office 365 Threat Intelligence (security insights and reporting), threat protection on an Microsoft 365 E5 licence is unrivalled in its ability to stop known and unknown malware, viruses and malicious links dead in their tracks. These tools (exclusively available on an E5 license or as an add-on subscription) are effective in real time, across mailboxes as well as shared documents, and – most importantly – leverage threat intelligence gathered from across Microsoft’s entire, global ecosystem.

That’s impossible to match as a 3rd-party solution provider with a dramatically smaller footprint. Read more on that in our blog on Microsoft’s approach to ATP, here.

Advanced Data Governance (with auto-classification & labelling)

Potential savings: priceless (no 3rd-party equivalents)

All Microsoft Enterprise licence plans from E3 upwards allow for the implementation of manual data retention and deletion policies and classifications.

Microsoft 365 E5 goes one step further to automate that process using Azure Information Protection (P2) functionality. This scans content on save to apply the appropriate governance policies and/or labels to documents, ensuring compliance with zero user input required.

For businesses with very specific compliance requirements, we’d also suggest considering the value of Customer Key, Hold Your Own Key and Customer Lockbox, all of which are available on an Microsoft 365 E5 licence and provide unparalleled control over things like encryption keys, just-in-time authorisations and external access.

Cloud App Security

Potential savings: priceless (no 3rd-party equivalents)

Microsoft’s Data Loss Prevention (DLP) functionality is pretty impressive across all its licence plans. Where Microsoft 365 E5 stands out in the crowd is in Cloud App Security. This service extends enterprise DLP, Information Protection Policies and labelling to documents stored or shared in 3rd-party apps like Dropbox, shoring up potential breaches and blocking Shadow IT SaaS apps – something no 3rd-party solution can do.

Adding up the value

For many of our customers, getting rid of all the 3rd-party services and solutions that they needed in the past – along with their deployment, integration and management costs – makes up for the majority (if not entirety) of their M365 E5 licence fees, off the bat.

Add any kind of eDiscovery project to that tally, and M365 E5 literally pays for itself. It’s really a no-brainer for any enterprise with sophisticated compliance, data governance and analytics requirements.

Microsoft 365 E5 Cost

But there’s more to the value of M365 E5 than just cost.

One of the biggest advantages of this license plan is that, by removing the need for 3rd party add-ons, it enables enterprises to manage all their tools and services on a single, integrated platform. For example, Office 365 labelling policies can be used to drive Data Leak Prevention, Mobile Device Management and Information Protection actions across the entire platform, all managed, monitored and reported on in one place.

That kind of seamless integration is both rare and incredibly valuable, and no licence plan does it quite as effortlessly as M365 E5.

Microsoft 365 E5 Suite Features

Need more information?

Microsoft 365 E5 Vs Office 365 E5

Choosing a best-fit Microsoft licence plan for your enterprise can be a daunting prospect. As a Gold Certified Cloud Productivity and Cloud Platform Microsoft Partner, Cloud Essentials is ideally positioned to help you assess your options. Get in touch.

Microsoft 365 E5