Microsoft Shifting Away from Office 365 Brand Name in April
Microsoft is making some changes to the branding of Office 365 products, with the announcement that the company is updating the suite’s name and adding new capabilities in Microsoft Teams. The changes couldn't have been presented at a better time. Using apps like teams are more important than ever these days due to the coronavirus outbreak, which is forcing people to remain in their homes and are working from home.
Starting April 21, Office 365 will be called Microsoft 365 (M365), a move that illustrates the company’s desire to position it as a people first suite of apps. There will be no changes to the pricing or to what's included. Microsoft announced the name change on March 30, the same day that it unveiled its newly rebranded consumer subscription bundles. On the business side, the new names will change automatically on said date.
Office 365 subscriptions for SMBs are being renamed with M365. Enterprise and SMB users will see the "Office 365 ProPlus" name replaced with "Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise." Neither of the rebranding’s includes any pricing or feature changes. It's just a name change, officials reiterated.
Here's Microsoft's plan to swap the names of the products for small-to-medium business users:
- Office 365 Business Essentials will become Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
- Office 365 Business Premium will become Microsoft 365 Business Standard.
- Microsoft 365 Business will become Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
- Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus will both become Microsoft 365 Apps. Where necessary they will use the "for business" and "for enterprise" labels to distinguish between the two.
According to Microsoft 365 corporate vice president Jared Spataro, “these changes represent our ambition to continue to drive innovation in Microsoft 365 that goes well beyond what customers traditionally think of as Office. The Office you know and love will still be there, but we’re excited about the new apps and services we’ve added to our subscriptions over the last few years and about the new innovations we’ll be adding in the coming months. Read more about this here.
Not everything is changing
While the new branding may be rolling out on April 21st, not all of Microsoft’s subscription services will be changing name from the get-go. If you’re on an Office 365 for Enterprise plan, for example, then Office 365 E1/E3/E5 will be staying the same. Office 365 for Education – split into A1, A3, and A5 – will keep its name, as will Office 365 for Government.
Either way, there’s no need for any changes on the user’s part. Microsoft says the name updates will happen automatically.
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