Over the last few months, we have been hearing about the upcoming launch of Office 365 E5 and the time has finally come. This corporate plan is to replace E4, which will no longer be be available after June 2016. Outside of upping the price, Microsoft really upped some of the features as well. Are the features worth the price? I will let you be the judge of that, but here is an overview of some of the features:
These were included in E4:
- Unlimited email
- Social tools such as Yammer, Sharepoint Online, and Office 365 Video
- Office Suite (including Access for Windows users)
- OneDrive for Business
These are new features not found in E4:
- Advanced Threat Protection for secure attachments and URLs
- Cloud PBX
- PSTN Conferencing– Allows users to join meetings via voice even without an internet connection, but using a land line or cellular call instead
- PSTN Calling– which is cloud-based call management which is done through Skype for Business
- Delve Analytics– lets users perform organizational analytics
- Power BI Pro– lets users analyze the data in Office 365 through dashboards
Essentially, the new features in E5 saves you from having to configure, manage, and maintain the server infrastructure on the back end. When you do this via the cloud, it makes it easier for a business to move to more-intelligent corporate communication and collaboration. E5 will become the top-of-the-range Office 365 plan, which includes every piece of functionality available in the service. A couple surprising new elements are the enhanced eDiscover capabilities, which help customers prioritize the most-relevant documents they query and the ability to open email attachments securely in a virtual machine, making sure the attachments and links are safe. This feature was designed to help with malware and other issues users are having with their PCs.
This is a lot of new features for the Office 365 program. But like with any software program, your organization needs to evaluate the benefits and weaknesses of E5 and determine if this is the right direction for your organization. The pricing structure is different as well, so this should be another factor for you to consider. If you need help evaluating Office 365 E5, you should consult with your IT Consultant. If you don’t have an IT Consultant or if you are unhappy with your current Provider, 2W Tech would be happy to help you evaluate your options.
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