Important Factors to Consider When Selecting Microsoft Cloud (M365) Licenses For Your Nonprofit Organisation

Did you know that you can get nonprofit discounts on cloud services from Microsoft? It’s true! Choose from Microsoft 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security, and Power BI.

Mix and match plans and products to fit your exact needs. You can change your plans, too, as your organisation evolves.

In this article we are sharing the important factors to consider when selecting M365 licenses for your organisation:

• Who is using the license? Microsoft’s donated cloud licenses are only for paid staff, but volunteer licenses are available too.
• How many people in your organisation need licenses? Microsoft tailors licensing based on size. Small and medium organisations have fewer than 300 users and are best served by Business licenses. Large organisations have more than 300 users and require Enterprise licenses.
• What are the key applications that your team needs to use? Almost all licenses come with the essential applications in the following areas: Productivity: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook | Communication and collaboration: Teams | Data management: OneDrive and SharePoint
• Also, think about whether your organisation would need both cloud and desktop versions of licenses and what additional applications and features you may want. Enterprise licenses, for example, come with work management tools such as To Do and Planner. Microsoft 365 Audio Conferencing can also be added to enhance your use of Teams as it allows participants to call in to meetings from their audio lines versus web, mobile, or desktop apps.
• What security features are necessary for your organisation? Key things to consider include the type of data you are storing and whether or not there are legal restrictions on how you need to manage and report your data. For example, organisations that provide health services may need to ensure that their systems support HIPAA compliance. You may also want to have additional security in management of applications and devices across your organisation.
• We also recommend that organisations consider Microsoft Office 365’s Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to protect their email against unknown malware and viruses. The ATP plans have reporting and trace capabilities to provide your administrators insights on potential attacks happening in your organisation.

If you have questions or you are new to Microsoft cloud solutions, we can help you find the right plans for your needs.