Most firms we see are not choosing between “a little Microsoft 365” and “a lot of Microsoft 365.” They already live in Outlook and Teams. The real fork is whether the tenant can enforce who signs in, from which device, and what happens if that device is lost.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard is a strong productivity plan. Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the same productivity plan plus the security stack that small and mid-size organizations actually need: Microsoft Intune Plan 1, Microsoft Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access), Microsoft Defender for Business, and Defender for Office 365 Plan 1.
What is the same
On both Standard and Premium you get the desktop Office apps, Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Mailbox size and Copilot add-ons move over time; do not pick a SKU because of a storage number that will change again. If the only requirement is “Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams,” Standard can do that job.
What Premium actually buys
| Business Standard | Business Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Entra ID | Free tier (security defaults / basic MFA) | P1 — Conditional Access, session controls |
| Device management | Basic Mobility and Security only | Intune Plan 1 (MDM and MAM) |
| Endpoint protection | Consumer-grade / OS default | Defender for Business |
| Email threats | Exchange Online Protection | Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (Safe Links / Attachments) |
| Windows Autopilot | Not in the SKU | Available for company devices |
Buying Intune and Defender as add-ons on top of Standard is possible. For a typical 10–150 person firm it is usually more expensive and more awkward than Premium, and you still do not get Entra P1 unless you buy that too.
When Standard is enough
- Fewer than a handful of people, all on machines you physically control, and you will accept security defaults (MFA on, little nuance).
- No BYOD access to mail or files, or you are willing to treat phones as personal-only.
- You do not need to say “this laptop must be encrypted and enrolled before it can open SharePoint.”
That is a smaller set than most owners assume. The moment someone wants mail on a personal iPhone, or you hire a remote bookkeeper, Standard’s identity model starts to leak.
When we put people on Premium
Our default for a professional services, healthcare-adjacent, or field-service firm is Premium. The Intune piece is the reason:
- Company laptops enroll, get BitLocker / FileVault, and can be wiped if they walk away.
- Personal phones can use app protection (MAM) so Outlook and Teams data stay in a managed bubble without fully taking over the device.
- Conditional Access can require a compliant or app-protected device before Exchange and SharePoint open.
- Defender for Business gives you a place to see “that PC is isolated” instead of hoping Windows Update was enough.
If you are still on Business Standard and already paying for a separate RMM or “AV suite,” add up the overlap. Premium is often the cleaner way to get device control and identity policy in one Microsoft bill — but only if you will actually turn Intune and Conditional Access on. A Premium license with default settings is just a more expensive Standard.
A working sequence
- Move users to Premium (or start new staff there).
- Keep security defaults until Conditional Access is designed. Do not disable MFA in the gap.
- Enroll company Windows devices in Intune. Autopilot if you are buying new hardware.
- Create compliance policies (encryption, Defender, OS version) and a Conditional Access policy that requires a compliant device for the core apps.
- Add app protection for iOS/Android so BYOD can have mail without joining the whole phone.
- Then, and only then, turn security defaults off in favor of those CA policies.
The companion article, Intune and authentication that people will actually follow, is the how-to once the SKU is right.
What we will not do
We will not recommend Enterprise E5 for a 25-person shop that will never use the extra compliance SKUs. We will not leave a tenant on Standard and then promise “we’ll lock down the phones.” Those two statements do not go together.
If you want a short assessment of your current SKUs against how people actually sign in, start with a conversation.