Microsoft 365 Product Name Changes Explained

As of April 21st 2020, Microsoft made changes to several product names, these changes were implemented automatically and at this stage, there are no changes to license cost or features.

The changes were as follows:-

• Office 365 Business Essentials became Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
• Office 365 Business Premium became Microsoft 365 Business Standard.
• Microsoft 365 Business became Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
• Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus both became Microsoft 365 Apps. Where necessary the “for business” and “for enterprise” labels to distinguish between the two.

The following Office 365 plans will have no changes:

Office 365 for Enterprise
– Office 365 E1
– Office 365 E3
– Office 365 E5

Office 365 for Firstline Workers
– Office 365 F1

Office 365 for Education
– Office 365 A1
– Office 365 A3
– Office 365 A5

Office 365 for Government
– Office 365 G1
– Office 365 G3
– Office 365 G5

The rationale for changes given by Microsoft is that the new product names reflect the development path of M365 with this being seen as a wider set of integrated apps versus the traditional services provided as part of the office suite.