Determine the best subscription for your organization in Microsoft 365

  • 5 minutes

The scenarios in which organizations may deploy and use Microsoft 365 can obviously differ. For example, some organizations may choose to move their entire on-premises infrastructure to Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365. Other organizations may choose a hybrid solution by hosting some products on-premises and hosting other products in Microsoft 365, such as Microsoft Exchange and Skype for Business. And, some organizations might start smaller and choose to have a single software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering such as Exchange Online.

When planning to purchase a Microsoft 365 subscription, organizations should consider the following questions:

  • Which business needs will drive your organization to move to Microsoft 365? Some answers might include better availability, industry standard security, lower cost for hardware and software maintenance, and support for multiple devices and platforms.
  • What is your organization's current IT infrastructure? For example, if organizations have many on-premises custom applications, the planning process of moving custom applications to the cloud might be time-consuming. Furthermore, while transitioning infrastructure and applications to the cloud, organizations might choose to deploy a hybrid solution, in which they move Exchange mailboxes to Microsoft 365, and continue to host custom applications on-premises.
  • What is your organization's change-management process? Every organization has a different change-management process that defines the deployment process for new solutions. For example, organizations might use FastTrack, which is a serviced provided by Microsoft to help with the planning, design, deployment, and migration process.
  • How many employees will use Microsoft 365 and what are your organization's plans for growth? Some of the Microsoft 365 subscriptions are limited in the number of users and the types of functionalities permitted. As such, organizations must match the requirements for Microsoft 365 functionalities with the number of users. An organization can mix different Microsoft 365 plans according to its business needs. For example, one organization can purchase 200 Business Essentials seats, 200 Business Premium seats, and 200 Office 365 E3 seats on a single tenant.

Network requirements are also an important concept for every Microsoft 365 project. Because Microsoft 365 is a cloud service, an organization’s Internet traffic will obviously increase when Microsoft 365 is deployed. Connections for Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, and Teams generate more network traffic compared to on-premises implementations.

When organizations plan their Microsoft 365 subscription, they should investigate the following items:

  • The Microsoft 365 services that it plans to use.
  • The number of simultaneous connections it must support.
  • The type of task that each user or connection will complete ("typical usage").
  • The capacity of the internal network connections and segments within the organization.
  • The internet network topology and capacity of various pieces of network hardware.

To help organizations plan their Microsoft 365 subscription, Microsoft provides a planning checklist that includes the following tasks:

  • Determine your deployment goals.
  • Inventory the current environment.
  • Fix potential deployment blockers.
  • Make key deployment decisions.
  • Set up Microsoft 365 services for your organization.
  • Configure the subscription.
  • Prepare the organization.
  • Begin a migration and validate functionality.