Microsoft 365 Business Premium: What You Actually Get (London SME Guide)

What Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes for security, who it is for (up to 300 users), and how a London IT partner sets it up properly.

Many London businesses pay for Microsoft 365 but only use the email and Office apps. Business Premium adds a set of security and device-management tools that are often switched on only partially, or not at all.

Who it’s for

Microsoft designs Business Premium for small and medium-sized businesses of up to 300 users.

What’s included on top of Business Standard

According to Microsoft’s documentation, Business Premium adds:

  • Microsoft Defender for Business: endpoint protection against ransomware, malware and phishing, with endpoint detection and response.
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1: protection for email and files.
  • Microsoft Intune Plan 1: manage and secure Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android devices, including staff using personal phones.
  • Microsoft Entra ID P1: Conditional Access, so sign-in rules can depend on user, device and location.
  • Microsoft Purview Information Protection and data loss prevention: sensitivity labels and DLP for email and files.

Security defaults vs Conditional Access

Microsoft’s “security defaults” give every tenant a free baseline: MFA registration for all users, MFA for administrators, and blocking of legacy authentication protocols. Conditional Access needs at least Entra ID P1, which Business Premium includes, and gives fully customisable rules. Microsoft states the two aren’t meant to be combined: creating Conditional Access policies means turning security defaults off, and you should enable Conditional Access policies straight away when you do.

The common gap

Owning a licence is not the same as configuring it. Typical gaps: devices not enrolled in Intune, Defender not onboarded, and no Conditional Access policy in place after security defaults is disabled.

What a proper setup covers

  1. Enrol and onboard all devices.
  2. Replace security defaults with Conditional Access policies (MFA for all users, stronger MFA for admins, block legacy authentication).
  3. Turn on email and file protection.
  4. Apply sensitivity labels and DLP where regulated data is involved.

Talk to Foxcomm

Foxcomm is a Microsoft Solutions Partner and holds ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus. Book a free consultation and we’ll review how your current Microsoft 365 tenant is configured. See our Microsoft 365 and IT services pages.

Looking for wider help? See our IT solutions in London or IT services in London.