Written by Julien Peigne, ZAG Technical Services
Overview of the subscription business model
Microsoft officially launched the new Office on January 29th, unveiling two new offerings with Office 365 University and Office 365 Home Premium. Office 365 has been in the business market for a few years, and the introduction of these new suites for consumers brings the subscription model to everyone. To better understand the differences between the brand, the apps, and the suites, let’s have a deep look at the new Office business model.
Brand and products
Office is the master brand that includes all of the productivity products from Microsoft. As a brand, it is timeless and does not indicate a version. That is why Microsoft refers to “the new Office”.
However, products do have versions and can be suites or apps:
- Main suites are Office Home & Student 2013, Office Home & Business 2013, Office Professional 2013, Office for Mac Home & Business 2011, Office 365
Small Business, Office 365 Enterprise, etc.
- Apps are Access 2013, Excel 2013, Lync 2013, OneNote 2013, Outlook 2013, PowerPoint 2013, Project 2013, Publisher 2013, Visio 2013, and Word 2013.
Suites are available in two different ways:
- Perpetual: Pay one time for a specific product (e.g. Office Professional 2013). This does not include services or upgrade to the next version.
- Subscription: Pay every month for software, services, and future updates (e.g. Office 365 Enterprise).
With the new Office, Microsoft introduces the subscription model (Office 365) for everyone – home, school, and business. And you can always buy Office as you used to do before if you prefer.
New subscription plans
Office 365 is a user-based subscription that combines the full version of the Office apps with communication and collaboration services. This is the exact implementation of the Software + Services strategy that Microsoft unveiled a few years ago.
The new Office 365 plans available are:
Plan
Target
Office 365 University
Students
Office 365 Home Premium
Consumers
Office 365 Small Business
Office 365 Small Business Premium
Businesses with 1 to 10 users
Office 365 Midsize Business
Businesses with 11 to 250 users
Office 365 Enterprise
Office 365 Education
Office 365 Government
Businesses, schools, and government with 250+ users
Note that the services provided with Office 365 vary depending of the usage:
Usage
Communication and
Collaboration
Services
Personal
Outlook.com
Skype
SkyDrive
Professional
Exchange Online
Lync Online
SharePoint Online
And the Office Web Apps – the browser-based versions of the Office apps – are available with all these services.
In a word
Whether you are at home, at school, or at the office, Office 365 brings your productivity software and services together, accessible anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit office.com or contact us.
