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Everything You Need To Know On The Office 365 Rebranding

Change is a part of life, and adapting to that change often determines our success. But true leaders understand that the goal of that adaptation is not always survival.

Everything You Need To Know On The Office 365 Rebranding

Change is a part of life, and adapting to that change often determines our success. But true leaders understand that the goal of that adaptation is not always survival. The goal is often to find a way to maximize opportunities created by changing conditions. The future leadership of your industry may be decided by those companies that best leveraged changing conditions today. When it comes to leveraging changing conditions related to technology, K2 Technologies in Wyoming is your partner for digital transformations and Microsoft-based cloud technologies. If you use Microsoft products for your enterprise solutions, you should be aware of some recent changes.

Microsoft Office 365 Rebranding April 2020

Complete Guide To The Microsoft Office 365 Rebranding

Change Of Names

The most apparent difference as part of the new rebranding is the changing of several product names. As of April 21, 2020, each of these updates should have happened automatically. According to Microsoft.com, the product name changes will not include alterations to prices or features.

  • Office 365 Business Essentials is now Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
  • Office 365 Business Premium is now Microsoft 365 Business Standard.
  • Microsoft 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

The Office 365 packages for Government, Education, Firstline Workers, and Enterprise will not be changing names.

Purpose Of The Change

According to Microsoft, the changes are being made as part of the natural evolution of its Office suite. Over the past few years, the company has expanded the number of services targeting small and medium-sized businesses. The new features integrate AI and cloud-based tools that can greatly expand the operating power of small enterprises. In the end, the company felt the new names provide easier to understand labels of the tools in each package.

How This Affects Small Business Productivity

If your business depends on Microsoft Office suite staples like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, rest assured that these products will still be available. Most users of these classic applications will not notice any changes in everyday desktop life.

In addition, more recent Microsoft Office tools like Teams, Stream, Forms, and Planner will also remain available if they are currently within your plan. If you have not yet taken advantage of these newer tools, now is the time. The collaboration and business intelligence capabilities of these applications can fundamentally shift your operations into a higher gear.

Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Business are now combined into Microsoft 365 Apps

While most of the other services will not experience changes outside the name, Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Business are being merged into Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (Microsoft). If you receive ProPlus as part of a Government, Education, or Enterprise Office 365 subscription, you will only notice the change to the ProPlus application itself. Also, only users with Versions 2004 and newer will experience the name change.

What This Means For Admins

While most users will not experience any meaningful changes due to the rebranding, system admins may need to update documentation and workflows. Any automatic deployment rules using Configuration Manager may need to be adjusted if the updates or deployments are triggered based on the title of the application.

Make The Most Of Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft Office is committed to providing the best possible enterprise tools to aid your small and medium-sized business. However, unless your specialty is technology, you may need help learning how to maximize the application’s potential to elevate your company. We can help you move your operation to the next level using Microsoft applications like Office 365 and Microsoft Azure. Schedule a complimentary Microsoft Office 365 consulting session with a K2 Technologies Microsoft professional.