Microsoft has announced it is changing the names of their Office 365 small and medium business (SMB) SKUs on April 21, 2020. No changes are being made to pricing or features, it is just the names. There are also no price, feature, or business model changes to commercial subscriptions. Customers will see the name of their subscriptions updated to the new name across their in-product experiences. There is no need to take any action.

Microsoft Office 365 SMB Subscriptions

* ‘Microsoft 365 Apps’ can be used to refer to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise if the audience context is clearly set. Otherwise, use the full product name.

  • Office 365 Business subscriptions are becoming Microsoft 365 for business subscriptions. This includes Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Business.
  • Standalone commercial desktop client subscriptions are becoming Microsoft 365 Apps subscriptions. This includes Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus.
  • Consumer Office 365 subscriptions are becoming Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

The features for these plans remain the same:

What isn’t changing

  • Subscription prices
  • Product features
  • Offer IDs and SKUs
  • Office 365 Enterprise SKU names

There are no naming changes for the Office 365 Enterprise or Microsoft 365 Enterprise SKUs.

Why is Microsoft making these changes?

This is what Microsoft said “Simply put, our customers have had a hard time deciding which SKU is right for them. Our mid-priced SKU is called ‘Office 365 Business Premium,’ our premium SKU is called ‘Microsoft 365 Business,’ while our ‘Office 365 Business Essentials’ SKU has more cloud services value than our ‘Office 365 Business’ SKU.

With the new name, we’re shifting focus to how our services deliver value to our customers.”

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