Boasts really powerful office apps such as Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint, although not as collaborative as other office software.
OVERALL RATING: Best Collection of Apps
We’ve tested Microsoft 365’s features to see how they match up against other productivity software. We have all the information you need to decide for yourself whether Microsoft 365 is right for you and your business.
Who is Microsoft 365 best suited for? Perfect if you want all the Office apps such as Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint.
Pros
+ Great security and privacy controls
+ Powerful apps such as Excel
Cons
- Not as collaborative as competition
- Outlooks interface can be confusing if not used to it
Microsoft 365 is the collection of apps and services formerly called Office 365. The assembly includes all the core workspace apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Microsoft 365 sets the gold standard for office suites. The software works flawlessly, the mobile and desktop apps sync perfectly, and the programs allow for offline working. Microsoft 365 is the suite to beat.
Some workspace productivity suites only offer online or cloud-based functionality. Contrarily, Microsoft includes collaborative apps and tools with the benefits of working offline.
Is Microsoft 365 right for your startup or small business? Read our impartial review to find out.
Designed for your small or medium-sized businesses, Microsoft 365 brings together the best-in-class productivity of Office 365 with advanced security capabilities.
With Microsoft 365 Business, you can empower your employees to be productive anywhere on any device. It's a great software solution that allows you to build a stronger business with tools to engage customers and optimise your business processes and operations
Microsoft confusingly introduced Microsoft 365 in 2017 alongside Office 365. The company then combined the two packages, and Office 365 became part of Microsoft 365 in April 2020.
The new package includes some extra services like Windows 10 Enterprise. Microsoft has recently released some helpful updates like dark mode and synchronised settings. Additionally, Microsoft has supplied AI-based features. One of these helps users suggest contacts who may want copying into relevant emails or documents.
All the Microsoft 365 apps are aesthetic, customisable and highly functional. Also, Microsoft keeps the interface consistent throughout its apps to make navigation easier. The three Microsoft apps businesses use most are, without a doubt, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Despite some stiff competition from Google, Word remains the word processor of choice for businesses. Having various staff editing work from around the world is commonplace in 2022. Microsoft Word makes this easier than ever for businesses.
Word hasn't received many larger updates lately. But, the developers do update the interface, fonts and templates with some regularity. The program is packed so tightly with features that you could argue the program is becoming too complex. Many users won't ever use 80-90% of the tools and features.
Nonetheless, if word processing is the goal, Word is the way to go.
Most people are already familiar with Excel. The program is the most powerful spreadsheet program available today.
There is no shortage of tools and features in Excel. You can create advanced or straightforward charts, 3D data maps and, of course, spreadsheets. You can plug-in data from across the web, including stocks and geographical data. Also, the spreadsheet creator syncs perfectly across any type of device.
Excel's user interface has had quite a few facelifts since the program's inception in 1985. The current interface has a soft and modern feel to it. The layout is easy to navigate, which is noteworthy as Excel incorporates many more features than its competitors.
Because the vital tools and features have been available for some time, the recent Excel updates have focused on new users. For example, the new "Tell me what you want to do" box towards the top helps brand new users learn how to use Excel.
Despite Microsoft's best efforts, new users will still struggle to use some of the more advanced features. Although, that's not a problem unique to Microsoft. Google Sheets users also have difficulty navigating the more advanced tools.
Microsoft has given PowerPoint some substantial updates recently, including some remarkable AI-based developments. The application still works in much the same way it always has. You combine images, text and video to create engaging and dynamic slideshows. You can use templates provided by Microsoft or use bespoke colours and pictures.
Unsurprisingly, over-the-top slide transitions remain a fundamental pillar of the PowerPoint application. PowerPoint is straightforward for new users to navigate, and the user interface has a minimalist feel like Word and Excel.
PowerPoint uses AI to predict the type of templates that would suit your presentation based on your title page text. Also, like in Word, your team can work on a presentation simultaneously, helping to cut down on lead time.
Microsoft 365 includes many other applications that help businesses, which we've detailed below.
Outlook is Microsoft's professional email client that's included with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft includes the Mail app with all Windows computers, but Outlook is a far superior program and the best option for businesses.
The user interface isn't as simple as possible, but it's necessary so that Microsoft can include the app's tools and features, of which there are many. Besides sending and receiving emails, Outlook offers some useful extra tools. You can dictate emails through a microphone and transcribe text from a recording on your computer. You can also link meetings suggested in your emails directly into your calendar.
Outlook's AI sorts your emails into various inboxes depending on their importance. The MyAnalytics data tool spots your writing patterns while helping with your scheduling. Some businesses will benefit from Outlook's extra features. But, those seeking an easier, more intuitive email client might prefer Gmail.
Perhaps the most valuable and innovative feature in the Microsoft 365 offering is OneDrive. Microsoft's storage solution lets you sync your files across as many devices as you need. You can also collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and slideshows in real-time. Although the app has a fairly basic interface, it's an integral part of Microsoft 365.
Publisher is powerful software that allows you to manipulate features such as page size, text, graphics, and borders.
Publisher's strengths are its ability to bring together text and images to make professional looking; newsletters, brochures and handouts. Publisher is an app many businesses fail to utilise in full. The app helps businesses put together presentable business documents ready for publication.
Although Word has some templates available, Publisher gives you a much greater level of control over how your document looks. For a professional-looking document, publisher can help.
Despite Zoom and Google Meet's runaway success during the height of Covid, Skype is still going strong. Skype is so entrenched in the video calling industry that most English dictionaries recognise 'to Skype' as meaning video call.
Skype lets you video or voice call, instant message and file share as much as you need. You can also create polls, insert files from OneDrive and share music from Spotify in real-time.
You can also use Skype across many devices, including Xbox, smartphones, computers, tablets and Amazon's Alexa.
Microsoft Teams is a communication platform built for businesses. You can chat, voice or video call anyone on your team at any time. The platform lets you see all your meetings for the day, week, month or year by synchronising with your Outlook calendar.
You can make groups for different projects, upload and download work documents and record meetings. You can also edit files in real-time through Teams. Microsoft Teams is a fantastic collaboration tool that businesses find helpful in their day to day operations.
Exchange is the business-class email and calendaring service offered by Microsoft. It gives you greater email security and functionality than the other programs offered by Microsoft. The app also features a powerful calendaring program, some task management tools and a global address book. Exchange also allows for an enormous number of users, hence why larger businesses and institutions favour it.
Businesses use Microsoft SharePoint to create websites. Users can access developer tools through a web browser on any device and organise, store and share data. SharePoint is a cloud-based service hosted by Microsoft that businesses worldwide rely on.
You have the option of deploying your own SharePoint server or pay for Microsoft to host yours for you.
Microsoft charges for its services through subscriptions instead of one-off payments. This lets Microsoft provide its customers with more minor, frequent updates rather than in bulk once per year.
If you want to pay for Word and Excel upfront, you can still do so, albeit for a higher price. Beware, if you buy the standalone version, you lose access to the more frequent updates that Microsoft 365 subscribers get.
Microsoft organises its subscriptions into three distinct packages. Each subscription price is for one user per month, and all the subscriptions come with Teams, Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint.
All the business plans require at least a one-year commitment.
Business Basic gives you access to the web and mobile versions of Microsoft's Office apps. You cannot download any Office program on this plan.
Business Standard gives you the full range of apps, all of which you can download. This includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher and Access. This plan is perfect for businesses looking for seamless integration of remote and office workers.
Business Premium gives you everything in the Basic and Standard plans, plus some extra security features. In particular, cyber threat protection and device management. For example, you can wipe company data from any device remotely. You can also control which employees have access to specific data or apps.
Microsoft also offers an app-only plan that doesn't include Teams, Exchange or Sharepoint. This could work for businesses that use different software and don't want to migrate all their operations to Teams.
Microsoft 365 is the best option for anyone who wants all the Office apps and everything the service offers. From business all the way down to personal users.
Perfect for bringing teams and resources together that make working together more productive and enjoyable. Everyone seems to trust Microsoft and their security and privacy controls can help to protect business data.
As for storage, you get a generous 1TB of storage with the ‘Business Basic’ plan, which compares very positively to Google’s rather paltry 30GB on its ‘Business Starter’ plan.
Outlooks interface isn't the easiest to start using if you are not used to its look and feel. Constant updates are great but they can also mean constant changes in ways of working which can get a bit tiresome for some.
Collaborative live working isn't an option as it is with Google Workspace, this can be a drawback when teams are remote and working on the same documents. The only other drawback is that you don't actually own the software.
The productivity apps available through a Microsoft 365 subscription are second to none. Considering how often we use tools like Word and Excel, Microsoft's subscription fee is a bargain.
Office 365 Personal is for a single user whereas Office 365 Home is for a small business. Microsoft 365 is covered under Office 365 Home and Personal which gives access to full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Skype. These all receive monthly updates from Microsoft, and you can install on PCs, Macs, tablets, and phones. It’s a subscription that includes the most collaborative, up-to-date features in one integrated experience.
Microsoft Dynamics is a piece of business software, made by Microsoft. It's a customer relationship management software that helps any size of business manage their customer database. This could be generating new leads, engaging with their customers, and resolving customer service issues.
Yes, you do have to renew it, although not directly with Microsoft. Microsoft 365 (aka Office 365) can be extended at any time.
