Another email offering from a technology giant, Microsoft 365 goes head to head against the likes of Google Workspace by offering much more than simply reliable messaging and related services. It’s a fully-fledged productivity suite, encompassing those well-known tools, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.
The entire ecosystem you can access when you become a Microsoft 365 subscriber, therefore, is a huge draw for individuals thinking of giving this service try. However, this review specifically looks at the email solution that comes with Microsoft 365 – in this case, the also well-known offering, Microsoft Outlook.
We found that the email service that comes with Microsoft 365 is extremely powerful – especially if you are already a user of some of the other tools that are included in the service. For Microsoft 365 users, Outlook is incredibly secure and reliable. It is tightly integrated with 365’s other services to ensure that it is hugely effective if your business wants to take its efficiency or collaboration to the next step. For any organization that is already immersed in Microsoft’s digital ecosystem, it just might be.
Microsoft 365: Plans and pricing
While there are personal Microsoft 365 plans, the business packages can be split into four tiers. Customers can choose from Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Apps for business.
Subscribers who pay annually will save 16% compared to those who pay monthly. They will find that the Basic plan is priced at $6.00 per user per month, Standard will set them back $12.50 per month, and Premium starts from $22.00. Microsoft 365 Apps for business works a little differently in terms of what customers receive but costs $8.25 per user per month.
The other thing to note is all four Microsoft 365 plans come with a one-month free trial. After the one-month trial comes to an end, customers will find that their subscription automatically transitions into a 12-month paid subscription, with charges beginning immediately. This means that you will need to enter your credit card details to sign up for Microsoft 365, so keep an eye on when your trial finishes to ensure you only commit yourself financially if you’re happy with the service.
You can also sign up for Microsoft’s new AI tool, Copilot, as an add-on, which is available to subscribers for all four of Microsoft 365’s payment tiers. Unsurprisingly, given the waves that AI has been making across the business world, impacting everything from cloud storage to CRM software, users of Copilot have been predominantly happy with the solutions. Keep reading to hear more about how Microsoft is applying it to Outlook.
Features
In terms of the features on offer with Microsoft 365, Basic customers get access to identity, access, and user management for up to 300 employees, web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and 1TB of cloud storage per employee. In terms of the features that relate to email, specifically, they also get a custom business email and automatic spam and malware filtering.
In addition, their a couple of other features, that while not directly applying to Outlook, will work alongside it to helo employees be more productive. For instance, the Basic plan comes with chat, call, and video conferencing with Microsoft Teams included. The rise of hybrid work means that this feature is boung to be appreciated by businesses. As is the ten-plus additional apps they gain access to for their business needs, which integrate nicely with Outlooks, including Microsoft Bookings, Planner, Forms, and others.
At other pricing levels, the features ramp up in ways you’d expect. With the Standard plan, you get everything that comes with the Baic plan plus additional features, including webinars with attendee registration and reporting, collaborative workspaces to co-create using Microsoft Loop, and offline apps. The latter is a notable highlight, especially if you want to check your Outlool account when you don’t have access to an internet connection. The Premium plan, meanwhile, mostly adds additional security protections and Microsoft 365 Apps for business lets companies enjoy offline versions of the company’s applications.
Finally, Copilot represents an interesting AI feature that applies to multiple Mirosoft apps within the 365 plan. Regarding Outlook, Copilot can be used to clear inboxes and draft replies in minutes, rather than hours and take AI meeting notes. Apparently, 70% of Copilot for Microsoft 365 users said they became more productive after using the tool.
Support
Microsoft 365 excels in terms of support, including for users that predominantly spend most of their time with Outlook. At every pricing tier, users can contact phone and online support anytime. There’s also a community forum for additional support. It means getting hold of technical support for installation, setup, configuration, or general usage is easy and timely. It’s nice that this is true even with the cheapest plan.
Security
As you’d expect given the company’s vast resources, Microsoft 365 takes security very seriously. Standard security and compliance features are included at every pricing tier, including cloud-based email filtering, access control and multi-factor authentication.
At the Premium level, you will notice security features go up a notch. For instance, you get advanced identity and access management, enhanced cyberthreat protection against viruses and phishing attacks, and enterprise-grade device and endpoint protection. So if you want extra protection against incoming malicious emails, this is probably the subscription level for you.
The competition
The main competitor for Microsoft 365, if you’re focusing on its business email offering, would be Google Workspace. This is the main rival offering a fully productivity suite of tools in addition to email. Where Microsoft 365 has something of an advantage is in its offline functionality.
Of course, if your business doesn’t need to plethora of other services that come with a Microsoft 365 subscription, there are plenty of smaller players offering excellent email hosting services, including the likes of ScalaHosting and DreamHost.
Microsoft 365: Final verdict
Microsoft 365 comes with an excellent email service in the form of Outlook, bolstered by a range of other excellent business solutions. If we were being picky, we’d say that these features may not be exactly what smaller players are in need of, so the solution might be slightly overwhelming. But if already use some of the company’s solutions, this seems like an obvious choice for an email provider.
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