Microsoft to shift SMBs' Office subscriptions to 'Microsoft 365' brand

Microsoft today announced name changes to the Office 365 subscription plans in the Business line, substituting “Microsoft 365” instead.

The Redmond, Wash. developer did not touch subscription plans aimed at enterprise, education and government.

Plan names will automatically change on April 21, Microsoft said in an online statement. Prices of the plans will not change.

• Office 365 Business Essentials, the lowest-priced plan in the Business line, will become Microsoft 365 Business Basic.

• Office 365 Business, the middling plan in the trio that provides the Office applications and OneDrive, but no other services, will become Microsoft 365 Apps.

• Office 365 Business Premium, the most capable and most expensive subscription plan of the three, will become Microsoft 365 Business Standard.

Microsoft will change the moniker of Microsoft 365 Business to Microsoft 365 Business Premium to fit it into the Business line as the top-dollar $20 per-user per-month plan. That subscription adds security and management tools to Office 365 Business Standard, née Premium. (Currently, this is the lowest-priced plan in the Microsoft 365 line. After the name changes, though, it will fall somewhere in the middle.)

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