Office 365 E3 vs. E5: 10 Reasons It’s Time to Upgrade

Microsoft is a staple in many modern offices. With an array of services, enterprises often find Microsoft’s Office 365 suite appealing and cost-effective. Recently, the technology giant has been rebranding its various Office 365 products to Microsoft 365 and offers clients a few different licensing options. One license increasing its appeal to enterprises is the E5 license, its most comprehensive and advanced 365 product.

Designed to improve productivity, efficiency and security, the E5 license includes several upgraded features large-scale businesses could really find to be beneficial when they start to make the comparison between Microsoft 365 E3 vs. E5. For example, the Microsoft E3 to E5 upgrade license option offers enhanced security, compliance and legal protection, better communication tools and more intuitive analytics, to name a few tools. As a result, many organizational decision-makers are looking at the differences between the two and opting to upgrade.

While the cost for the E5 license is a little higher per user per month, the ROI you receive can potentially help pay itself off quickly. Let’s take a look at 10 ways your enterprise could benefit from upgrading from Office 365 E3 to Microsoft 365 E5.

1. Integrate enhanced security capabilities

These days, enterprises cannot afford to ignore security. As threat actors consistently increase their efforts to target businesses, their exploits are more sophisticated. In May 2023, the IBM Data Breach Report revealed a whopping 83% of companies experienced more than one data breach in 2022. Many technology companies and other expert predictions indicated that 2023 and beyond would not show a rosier future when it comes to cyber and other risks. Businesses can’t afford to not be proactive.

In its 365 E5 product, Microsoft integrates stronger security protection elements to empower large organizations to better their cybersecurity posture. In addition to basic security features included in E3, Microsoft takes security to a new level by including features such as Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Defender for Identity, to name a few.

These and other features can help you mitigate both external and internal threats, gain stronger security management abilities and better position you to predict, prevent and respond to ongoing cyber threats. It’s important to consider, with the E3 license, you’re going to need to integrate additional products from additional vendors to protect your enterprise from vulnerabilities anyway, so why not streamline the process?

2. Obtain better compliance and legal protection

Due to the steady increase in the exposure of sensitive data, businesses of all sizes must adhere to compliance factors. As you know, the compliance landscape has become complex. Going forward, enterprises must give serious consideration to how they plan to manage compliance measures. If not, they’ll face stiff penalties.

The last thing you want is the headaches and costs associated with non-compliance of regulatory and industry requirements. When making the comparison of E3 vs. E5 to install for your enterprise’s users in terms of fulfilling compliance needs, E5 wins hands down.

With the better compliance tools bundled with E5, you’ll rest assured your organization is ticking off all the proverbial boxes when it comes to meeting your regulatory and industry requirements. E5 offers Advanced Compliance (including eDiscovery) and Information Protection and Governance, to name just two important features.

These, along with the E5’s other compliance-related features, automatically protect and govern your sensitive data throughout its lifecycle, and you’ll always be able to competently respond to regulatory requests. Key decision-makers in your organization can rest easy knowing the E5 license offers comprehensive compliance and data governance solutions.

3. Advanced tools to manage user accounts

To align with your security goals, you’ll need to keep careful track of user accounts to eliminate potential risks and threats. Bundled into the E5 license, you’ll have access to Azure Active Entra ID P2, enabling you to easily assign and manage employee accounts and ensure users have access to areas of your digital landscape on a need-to-know basis. You can assign the correct levels of access and permissions required for both hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Furthermore, Azure Information Protection P2 gives you the ability to locate, classify and protect both sensitive and proprietary documents. This offers an elevated form of security and prevents people who shouldn’t have access from pulling up files they have no business retrieving.

4. Improved communication tools

In today’s digital landscape, enterprises need to be able to communicate and collaborate from a variety of locations. Whether your users are in-house or working from remote locations, you’ll want a more comprehensive means to work together.

Microsoft’s 365 E5 software provides the solution. When you upgrade, your organization can enjoy state-of-the-art communication tools that can be utilized in tandem with artificial intelligence. With Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing and Microsoft Teams Phone Standard, your users also enjoy an upgraded phone system experience, enabling them to better handle calls and meetings using upgraded features above and beyond what E3 offers.

5. More powerful analytics and intelligence tools

Once your organization upgrades from the 365 E3 license to the E5 license, you’ll immediately gain access to powerful analytics you can use for your planning and decision-making. The competitive advantage your brand can gain from the ability to access current, up-to-date data can position your company as an industry leader.

Power BI Pro, Myanalytics and Workplace Analytics are powerful tools, providing users with rich insights and intuitive ways to collaborate. Purview eDiscovery offers three different solutions: content search, eDiscovery (standard) and eDiscovery (Premium), each offering advanced levels of search and other tools, depending upon organizational needs.

AI tools are steadily becoming the norm. What was once a futuristic concept is here, and progressive organizations are rapidly integrating artificial intelligence tools into their processes. E5’s advanced analytics and AI tools go far beyond traditional digital tools to empower users to utilize powerful predictive processing and decision-making tools to help them perform their duties. Additionally, you can purchase add-ons with E5 including Microsoft Syntex and Microsoft Viva Topics.

6. Ability to mix and match licenses

A significant advantage many enterprise managerial decision-makers appreciate is the ability to mix and match Microsoft 365 licenses. With this flexible option, you can select which users need upgraded features and keep the users who don’t at the E3 level.

Sticking within the Microsoft ecosystem rather than going to additional vendors makes it a budget-friendly, cost-effective option. You only pay for what you need without incurring additional costs associated with switching or adding on new vendors, since all users will still have the basic E3 features they need.

7. Easy to upgrade

The installation benefit goes hand-in-hand with seamless integration. Once your organization upgrades its license from E3 to E5, all of your digital assets, including but not limited to emails, documents, settings and existing data are preserved. Essentially, nothing is modified except those users permitted to access upgraded features and gain new capabilities.

You can upgrade at any time, all you need to do is purchase the new plan and determine which users will have access to the new features (not everyone in your company may need them to perform their jobs). As with any upgrade, it’s always a smart strategy to back up essential data before making changes, but you’ll more than likely not experience any hiccups during the upgrade process since it’s all in Microsoft’s ecosystem.

8. Seamless integration and automation

Another advantage to upgrading from E3 to E5 is seamless integration. New tools easily assimilate into existing tools, which means you’ll experience little to no disruption, unlike trying to integrate tools with other vendors or having to do a complete reset. Additionally, since Microsoft 365 E5 enhances tools already included with E3, the learning curve for users is minimal. You can upgrade your license and business essentially continues as usual. Both licenses share the same core applications, which means you can reliably depend upon both versions.

9. Easier recordkeeping approach

Internal recordkeeping is complex enough, but add in remote workers, a large customer base and a multitude of vendors, and it can be difficult to oversee and govern your enterprise’s most critical financial and personnel data.

Microsoft’s E5 license offers its Records Management feature which empowers companies to manage and store their essential data with ease. Using this E5 feature, you can classify, review, store, dispose of and manage your information assets without compromising security or productivity.

The AI components featured in E5 also allow you to leverage its powerful learning capacity to identify and classify information, so it’s properly handled. As a result, you can rest easy knowing your legal requirements regarding records management are met.

10. Financial advantages/cost-benefit analysis

Every large-scale business needs to invest in several specific software types to ensure it can meet its operational, security, transactional and other processes. Rather than purchase add-on software functions from different vendors, you can enjoy “one-stop” shopping when you upgrade your Microsoft License to E5 with one vendor instead of trying to integrate products from many different ones. This reason alone is enough to consider upgrading.

Most vendors, including Microsoft, bundle software types to provide a cost-effective option and E5 makes this an easy process. With your upgrade, you can seamlessly integrate important and valuable features such as identity management, device and application management, productivity and modern collaboration, data governance and security protection elements.

While per-user fees are slightly higher, the cost-savings you can gain offset the subscription fees. For instance, you don’t have to:

• Pay for additional features with another vendor
• Train employees on new software
• Invest in additional technical support for your users
• Reconfigure your processes to support multiple types of software solutions

While the initial upfront costs are higher, the savings and ROI you receive over time make the Microsoft E3 to E5 upgrade a worthwhile investment.

Summary of why enterprises should consider a Microsoft 365 E3 vs. E5 upgrade opportunity

Upgrading from E3 to E5 provides advanced security features, superior compliance measures, advanced business analytics capabilities, AI tools, expanded collaborative and communication tools and an overall enhanced user experience, to name just a few important upgrades.

While small and medium-sized businesses may not need all the powerful tools E5 brings (although SMBs could benefit from many of them depending on organizational needs), large-scale organizations typically find the upgrade to E5 is worth the investment since it quickly pays for itself.

Thinking about making an upgrade to gain the advantages offered by E5?

If your enterprise is considering upgrading to Microsoft’s 365 E5 license, Red River is here to assist. Our experienced technology professionals excel at their craft and can help you identify ways your company can benefit from making this upgrade. Red River has extensive knowledge of Microsoft solutions and can work closely with your team to evaluate, identify and integrate the features your organization needs.

In addition, the Red River team will look not just at your current needs, but evaluate your future requirements. As we examine your technology framework, we’ll take scalability into consideration as we help you integrate advanced tools. This way, you’ll know as your business changes and grows, your technology can adapt and possesses the capacity to grow with you.

When you choose to work with Red River, you’ll know your needs are important to us. Our goal is to help your enterprise overcome any challenges while enabling you to meet your organization’s goals while remaining true to its core mission while keeping within budget.

Ready to explore your options?

Are you ready to explore the opportunities an E5 upgrade can provide your company? If so, contact Red River today to get the conversation started. We pride ourselves in developing strong relationships with our clients and, as a technology transformation company, are committed to ensuring your need to find the right solutions are met. Our team looks forward to connecting with you and are happy to answer any questions or address concerns.