Is Microsoft 365 worth it for a small business?

For many SMEs, Microsoft 365 makes sense because it isn't just an email or document platform. It can bring together a much wider part of the business, from day-to-day productivity and communication to security, device management, file sharing and automation.

Most businesses start with the familiar tools: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams. But depending on your Microsoft 365 licence, you can also bring in tools such as SharePoint for company files and intranets, OneDrive for individual cloud storage, Planner for task management, Forms for collecting information and Power Automate for automating repetitive processes.

Then there's the security side. Certain Microsoft 365 plans can give SMEs access to capabilities including Microsoft Defender, Intune device management, identity and access controls and more advanced protection against phishing and cyber threats.

That can be a big advantage for a growing business. Instead of adding separate products every time you need to solve a new IT problem, you can potentially manage much more of your technology through one Microsoft ecosystem.

What about Google Workspace?

Google Workspace is a perfectly credible alternative and, for some businesses, it may be the better fit. If you're heavily browser-based and mainly need email, cloud storage, video meetings and straightforward collaboration, Google Workspace can do that very well.

Microsoft 365 becomes particularly compelling when your business already works heavily in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, or you want to bring productivity, security and device management closer together.

For example, an SME might otherwise have separate services for:

• Business email
• Office applications
• Cloud file storage
• Video meetings and internal chat
• Device management
• Endpoint security
• Identity and access management
• Workflow automation
• Document management

Microsoft 365 can cover many of those requirements within the same ecosystem, although exact features depend on the licence you choose.

So the question isn't really “Is Microsoft 365 better than Google Workspace?”

It's “Which platform fits the way our business works, the level of security we need and where we're likely to be in two or three years?”

For an SME that simply wants email and online documents, Microsoft 365 may offer more than it needs. But for a business that wants its IT environment to become more secure, joined-up and manageable as it grows, that broader capability can be a major reason to invest.

What Microsoft 365 features are most useful for SMEs?

You could then give this its own highly searchable section:

Outlook and Exchange Online

Professional business email, calendars and contacts, with Microsoft's cloud email infrastructure sitting behind Outlook.

Microsoft Teams

Chat, calls, online meetings and collaboration in one place, reducing the need for conversations and information to be scattered across different platforms.

OneDrive

Cloud storage for individual users, making files accessible across authorised devices without relying on files stored locally on a single laptop.

SharePoint

Shared company document libraries, sites and intranets. For SMEs that have grown beyond storing everything in folders or emailing files around, SharePoint can make a significant difference.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Still hugely important for many businesses, particularly where customers, suppliers and partners also work with Microsoft file formats.

Microsoft Planner

A straightforward way for teams to organise tasks, responsibilities and deadlines without immediately investing in a separate project-management platform.

Power Automate

Useful for SMEs with processes that still rely on someone manually moving information around, sending routine notifications or copying data between systems. Even relatively simple automations can remove repetitive admin.

Microsoft Intune

Device and application management can become increasingly valuable as an SME grows, particularly when employees are working remotely or accessing company data from multiple locations.

Microsoft Defender

Depending on the Microsoft 365 package, Defender technologies can add protection across email, identities and endpoints, helping SMEs build a more joined-up approach to cyber security.

And increasingly, there's Microsoft Copilot too. AI is becoming much more closely integrated with applications businesses already use every day, although Copilot licensing, data readiness and governance should be considered separately rather than treating AI as an automatic reason to choose Microsoft 365.