Over the past few years, Microsoft has been going through a rebranding to move away from the “Office” brand to the more universal Microsoft brand. Continue reading to learn more about the Office 365 rebrand.
A few years ago, Office 365 Secure Score was renamed to Microsoft Secure Score and added some Windows features outside of Office 365. Microsoft also brought out a bundled Microsoft 365 package that included Windows 10, mobile device security and other features.
Now, they’ve just done a major rebrand, changing all their Office 365 home and business subscriptions to Microsoft 365. This has left companies in Brisbane and the rest of the world with questions about their business cloud solutions.
Approximately 57,597 Australian business users were using Office 365 as of February 2020.
Has pricing changed? Do I need to sign up for a new plan? What happens if I already have the Microsoft 365 bundle?
Those are just a few questions we’ll be answering here, along with several others related to the switch from Office 365 to Microsoft 365.
Answers for Your Office 365 Rebrand Questions
Losing the Office 365 name comes almost nine years after the platform was first launched in June of 2011. Office 365 was a major step forward in the cloud movement and was a driving force for cloud adoption for many organisations.
The rebranding happened mainly behind the scenes on April 21, 2020, but it still left a lot of companies wondering how this will impact their operations.
Here’s what you need to know.
The Reason for the Office 365 Rebrand
You might wonder why not leave well enough alone? Microsoft explains that they have done this rebranding because their continued evolution of the Microsoft stable of apps goes beyond just the traditional Office suite of products.
They wanted their 365 platform to reflect the expanded universe of cloud solutions that they continue to create.
The Price is Not Currently Changing
Pricing for all business plans is staying the same, only the plan names are changing.
Note: Enterprise users will want to continue reading, because these plans are being handled a little differently, and we’ll go over that shortly.
Office is Still Very Much a Part of the Platform
Just because Office is being dropped from the subscription plan name doesn’t mean you have to worry that it’s going anywhere. Microsoft understands that their Office suite is the core of the Microsoft 365 platform and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook will still very much be a part of it after the rebranding.
New Features Are Planned/Rolling Out
While Microsoft’s official notice about the change says that no features are changing at this time, Office programs are going to be having some exciting updates coming. These may just be part of the normal rollout of new features and not specifically tied to the rebranding.
Here are some that you can expect to see soon, or may already have noticed in your apps:
- Word & Outlook Editor: A new editor recently rolled out that gives Word and Outlook a helpful editing feature on par with programs like Grammarly.
- Presenter Coach in PowerPoint: If you’ve ever wished you could get a little help with your pacing and voice inflections when giving a presentation, you’ll appreciate the planned Presenter Coach feature in PowerPoint that does just that.
- More Creation Objects: You’ll be getting more help when creating in your Office programs, including premium templates and more fonts, videos, icons, and free stock images.
You Don’t Need to Change Anything or Resubscribe
The rebranding happened behind the scenes and there is nothing that you need to do. You don’t need to change your plan or resubscribe.
Office 365 Rebrand Old vs New Name List
Here are your new subscription names based upon your previous Office 365 subscriptions. You’ll see that the Microsoft 365 bundle has also been renamed and is also not changing otherwise.
- If you had Office 365 Business Essentials you now have Microsoft 365 Business Basic
- If you had Office 365 Business Premium you now have Microsoft 365 Business Standard
- If you had Office 365 Business OR Office 365 Pro Plus you now have Microsoft 365 Apps (“for Business” or “for Enterprise” will be used where needed to differentiate)
- If you had Microsoft 365 Business you now have Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Enterprise Subscriptions Aren’t Changing, But There Are New Plans
The situation for enterprise subscribers to Office 365 is a bit different. First, their plans are not being renamed. If you had Office 365 E1, E3, E5 or one of the specialty plans (education, government, etc.) you are not part of the rebranding.
Second, there are new Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans available at higher price points and with more features that you may want to compare to see if an upgrade makes sense.
Is It Time to Do a Cloud Solution Review?
When did you last have a cloud solution review done to ensure your cloud infrastructure was optimised and you weren’t paying for redundant services? Connected Platforms can help you streamline to get the most of your subscriptions.
Contact us today for a free cloud consultation or to find out more about other IT solutions we can help you with. Call (07) 3062 6932 or book a coffee meeting online.
