Office 365 Business – considerations and limitations

The Office 365 Business plans provide amazing value and functionality for small and growing organizations:

Bundle	Features
Business essentials	Exchange Online Plan 1 (Hosted e-mail) SharePoint Online Plan 1 (Collaboration and document management platform) Office Online (Web-based office programs, Word, Excel, and so on) OneDrive for Business Plan 1 (Unlimited file storage, similar to Drop Box and Google Drive) Skype for Business Online Plan 1 (Instant messaging, video calling, and conferencing) Yammer Enterprise (Social networking for business) Sway (Used to create presentations and interactive content)
Business	Office 365 Business (Office desktop applications) Office Online OneDrive for Business Plan 1 Mobile Device Management (Manage mobile settings, security, and remote wipe) Sway
Business Premium	Exchange Online Plan 1 Office 365 Business Office Online SharePoint Online Plan 1 OneDrive for Business Plan 1 Skype for Business Online Plan 2 (Includes the same options as plan 1 with additional ability to integrate with on-premises PBX systems, and also includes enterprise 24/7 support) Mobile Device Management Sway Yammer Enterprise

For many businesses, it will provide far more functionality than they may ever utilize, but there are some key limitations that must be considered prior to purchase.

User count limited

There is a hard limit of 300 users in the Business plans and there is no way around it. However, if you do need to go above this restriction, it is possible to upgrade to Enterprise plans where there is no user restriction. Switching plans is easy and can be done at any time using the Switch plan wizard available from the Office 365 portal.

Doesn't include e-mail archiving

Unlike the Enterprise plans, Office 365 Business does not allow for the addition of a mailbox archive on top of the existing 50 GB mailbox. What is possible however is to segment the existing mailbox into an archive area (for example, 5 GB of your 50 GB). It is also worth noting that this archive folder is only available when online with Outlook or via Outlook Web App because it is not cached as part of the user's Offline Storage Table (OST) file, and so it cannot be viewed offline.

Office Suite does not include Access

If you currently utilize Office Professional in your organization, it is worth noting that none of the Business plans include the use of Microsoft Access. If some users require the use of Microsoft Access, you will need to assign an Enterprise E3, E5, or Office Pro Plus license to those users.

Doesn't include Skype for Business Cloud PBX

If your business wants to make the most of cloud technology then you will want to consider moving your on-premises telephone system to a cloud-based solution. None of the Office 365 business packages include Skype for Business Cloud PBX, which allows the users to make and receive telephone calls using Skype for Business.

Doesn't include the rights to install Office applications on servers using Remote Desktop Services

If you are using Remote Desktop Services (RDS) within your organization, you will want to install the available Office applications which come with your business subscription. Unfortunately, none of the business level subscriptions include the rights to use shared computer activation, which is required to install Office on RDS servers.