Microsoft 365 and Email Management in Cambridge

What Is Microsoft 365 Management?

Microsoft 365 is a subscription platform that bundles business email, file storage, video calling, document collaboration and security tools into one place. Managing it means making sure all those parts are configured to work together correctly, that users have the right licences, that security settings are appropriate and that the platform keeps working as your business changes over time.

For a Cambridge business, that might mean migrating away from an old hosted email service, setting up SharePoint so different departments can access the right files, or simply making sure the licences you are paying for are actually switched on and doing something useful.

The Licence Options - and What They Actually Give You

Microsoft sells Microsoft 365 under several plan names. For small businesses, the relevant ones are Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium. Understanding the differences matters because choosing the wrong plan either costs more than necessary or leaves you without features you need.

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic - covers Exchange email, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and web versions of Office apps. If your staff mainly use browsers and do not need the full desktop versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, this may be enough. It is the lowest-cost plan per user.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard - adds the full desktop versions of all Office apps and also includes Bookings and additional features within Teams. If your team uses Office apps heavily on their Windows PCs or laptops, this is usually the right choice.
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium - includes everything in Standard and adds a significant layer of security tools: Intune for device management, Defender for Business and Azure AD Premium features including conditional access. For businesses that handle sensitive client data or have staff working remotely, the additional security is worth considering seriously.

One thing to be clear about: Microsoft 365 licences are priced per user per month by Microsoft. What we charge is for the management and support of your IT environment, which is priced per computer per month (see pricing below).

Email Hosting - Options and Honest Trade-offs

Most businesses using Microsoft 365 run their email through Exchange Online, which is included in every plan. It is reliable, widely compatible and integrates well with Outlook on Windows. The main alternative some businesses consider is keeping a separate email provider and just using Microsoft 365 for everything else.

Keeping email separate adds complexity without a clear benefit in most cases. You end up managing DNS records in two places, and staff have to use different systems for email and file sharing. Unless there is a specific reason to keep them apart, consolidating onto Exchange Online is simpler.

What matters more than which plan you choose is whether email authentication is set up correctly. SPF, DKIM and DMARC records need to be added to your domain. Without them, your outbound email is at higher risk of being marked as spam by recipients, and your domain is more vulnerable to being spoofed by attackers sending fake emails that appear to come from you. This is not optional configuration - it is basic hygiene for any business using email.

Teams and SharePoint - Set Up to Actually Work

Teams and SharePoint are included in most Microsoft 365 plans, but they need thought before they are useful. SharePoint without a clear folder structure and properly set permissions becomes a mess of files that nobody can find. Teams without agreed naming conventions ends up with dozens of channels that overlap and confuse people.

The decisions to make before setting these up include: who owns each SharePoint site, what the folder structure should be, which staff need access to which areas, and whether existing shared drives or file servers need to be migrated across. Getting these decisions wrong at the start creates problems that are harder to unpick later.

We handle the setup and migration of both, and can move data from existing shared drives, Dropbox, Google Drive or a previous SharePoint into your new structure without disrupting day-to-day work.

Migrating From an Old System

If your business is currently on a local Exchange server, a hosted email provider or any other system, moving to Microsoft 365 involves a migration. Done correctly, this is not disruptive. Done poorly, it causes lost emails, broken calendars and days of frustration.

A proper migration involves: auditing what needs to move (mailboxes, contacts, calendars, shared mailboxes, distribution lists), testing the migration process on a small set of mailboxes first, cutting over DNS records at the right moment so email is not lost in transit, and verifying everything works before the old system is switched off. We do not just point a tool at your old server and press go.

Security Settings That Matter

Microsoft 365 ships with many security features switched off by default. The ones that should be switched on for any business include multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users, secure score baselines reviewed and applied, and audit logging enabled so there is a record of what happens in the tenant. If Business Premium licences are in use, Defender for Business should be configured and Intune used to manage device compliance.

Business email compromise is a real and common threat. It typically starts with a single account being taken over - often because MFA was not enabled - and results in invoices being redirected, contacts being targeted and email rules being set up to forward messages to an attacker. Preventing it is far easier than recovering from it.

Support Contracts and Pricing

Our support is billed per computer per month, not per user. All prices exclude VAT.

Business Essentials - On-site visits are charged at £60 call-out plus labour. Pricing: 1 computer £36/month, 2-3 computers £31.20 each, 4-9 computers £25.20 each, 10-17 computers £22.20 each, 18 or more £21.60 each.

Business Premium - everything in Business Essentials, with on-site labour and call-outs included. Pricing: 1 computer £54/month, 2-3 computers £42 each, 4-6 computers £38.60 each, 7-9 computers £33.80 each, 10-12 computers £31.20 each, 13-15 computers £28.40 each, 16-19 computers £25.40 each, 20 or more £24.40 each.

If a monthly contract does not suit, we offer pre-paid time blocks: 4 hours for £312, 8 hours for £592 or 16 hours for £1,123.

A managed email service is available separately, priced on request.

What to Expect When You Get in Touch

We will ask about your current setup: how many computers you have, what email system you use now, what Microsoft 365 plans you already have (if any) and what is not working. From that, we can give you a clear picture of what needs doing and how much it will cost.

We work with businesses in Cambridge and nearby, including Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Ely and Haverhill. Call us to talk through your Microsoft 365 setup.