The journey to Office 365 Part 6: Mixing up Microsoft’s 365 licensing and future compliance risks
Conclusion: Under its 365 umbrella, Microsoft offers a portfolio of plans with different packages of products and services. These Enterprise plans vary in terms of Features, Analytics, Security Development Options, Device Management and Security. However, some of the packages are suitable only for certain types of needs and employee roles. It is crucial to narrow down which tools the organisation should consider licensing through an in-depth analysis of the interplay between the organisation’s target achievements for a certain period of time and the employees’ performance and expected output. Matching different 365 plans to different employees may not only save money, but can also make for a more effective and efficient workforce.
However, mixing plans also comes with future compliance risks. There are several features of higher-level 365 licences than cannot be easily limited to just those staff licensed to use them. In the future, it is possible that Microsoft and its partners could use these features to argue for an uplift in overall licensing due to difficult-to-prove compliance obligations.