Your Laptops Contain More Than You Might Think
Think about what would happen if one of your employees lost their laptop tomorrow.
They might have access to company email, customer information, Microsoft Teams, files stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, along with saved passwords and access to other business systems.
The cost of replacing the laptop could be the least of your worries. The bigger question is: who could gain access to your company’s information?
This is where Microsoft Intune can help. Intune is Microsoft’s cloud-based device and application management service, designed to help organisations manage and protect the devices employees use to access company information.
And if your business currently uses Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Intune is one of the main reasons it may be time to consider upgrading to Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
What Is Microsoft Intune?
Despite the slightly technical name, the idea behind Microsoft Intune is simple: it gives your business greater control over the devices used to access your company information.
Instead of relying on employees to secure their own laptops, smartphones and tablets, your IT provider can apply your company’s rules centrally.
Microsoft describes Intune Plan 1 as a cloud-based unified endpoint management service for devices and applications. Think of it as a central control panel for your company’s devices.
What Can Intune Do for My Business?
1. Make Sure Company Devices Are Properly Protected
How confident are you that every company laptop has the right security settings? It’s easy for one computer to be forgotten or set up incorrectly.
With Intune, devices are managed centrally rather than relying on each user to configure them. For a business owner, the point is simple: security policies are applied consistently across your organisation.
2. Protect Company Information if a Laptop Is Lost or Stolen
We’ve probably all heard the dreaded words: “I think I’ve left my laptop on the train.”
Without the right controls, that quickly becomes a business problem rather than an inconvenience. Intune lets your IT team manage enrolled devices centrally, giving you far better options when a device is lost, stolen or no longer trusted.
You can’t stop someone losing a laptop. But you can be much better prepared when it happens.
3. Manage Employees Joining and Leaving
When someone joins, they need access to email, files and other business resources. When they leave, you want that access removed.
Intune can form part of a more controlled process for managing company devices and apps throughout an employee’s time with you. This is especially valuable for growing businesses, where setting up every new laptop by hand quickly becomes difficult.
Intune Becomes Even More Powerful With Conditional Access
This is where upgrading from Microsoft 365 Business Standard to Business Premium gets interesting.
Imagine an employee knows their Microsoft 365 username and password. Should that automatically mean they can access company information from any computer, anywhere? For many organisations, the answer should be no.
Business Premium gives your organisation Microsoft’s more advanced identity, security and device management tools. For example, you can set policies that check whether a device meets company requirements before it can access business resources.
In practical terms, your security moves towards: “We recognise you, but do we also trust the device you’re using?” That extra layer of control can make an enormous difference.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard vs Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Standard is an excellent productivity package. If you mainly need Office apps and cloud services, it may be all you need.
But as cyber security becomes more important, many businesses need more than Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. That’s where Business Premium comes in.
Business Premium combines Microsoft’s productivity apps with extra security and device management tools. Intune is included in Business Premium, but not in every Microsoft 365 plan.
So rather than asking, “Why should I pay more for Microsoft 365?”, a better question is: “What extra protection does Business Premium give my business?” Intune is only part of that story.
Business Premium Provides a Broader Security Platform
Moving to Business Premium isn’t just about getting Intune. It gives you a wider set of Microsoft security and management tools alongside the familiar Microsoft 365 apps.
That means your Microsoft 365 environment, user identities and company devices can be managed as part of one security strategy. For a small or medium-sized business, that’s far easier than piecing together lots of unrelated products.
“We’re Only a Small Business. Do We Really Need It?”
It’s a perfectly reasonable question. But security isn’t only an issue for large enterprises.
A company with 10, 20 or 50 employees can still hold confidential customer information, financial records, commercially sensitive documents and access to customer systems. And staff still:
- Work from home
- Use laptops outside the office
- Connect to different Wi-Fi networks
- Lose devices
- Change roles
- Leave the company
- Access company information from multiple locations
The question isn’t whether your company is large enough to need device security. It’s whether the information on your employees’ devices is important enough to protect. For most businesses, the answer is yes.
Is It Time to Move From Business Standard to Business Premium?
If your business uses Microsoft 365 Business Standard, it’s worth reviewing whether that licence still matches your security needs. Microsoft positions Business Premium as its business plan combining productivity apps with enhanced security, designed for organisations of up to 300 users.
Rather than seeing the upgrade as another monthly IT cost, consider what it could help you achieve:
- More control over company devices and mobiles
- Better protection for company information
- Stronger controls over how employees access Microsoft 365
- A more consistent approach to security across your organisation
How Sprint Integration Can Help
Upgrading the licence is only the first step. The real benefit comes from setting up and managing these security features correctly for your business.
Sprint Integration is a managed IT support provider for businesses across Essex, London and Billericay. Whether you need managed IT support in Essex, managed IT support in London or IT support in Billericay, our team can review your Microsoft 365 setup, explain the difference between Business Standard and Business Premium in plain English, and help you decide whether upgrading is right for you.
We can then set up Intune, device policies and access controls around the way your team actually works, all as part of our managed IT support services.
Already Using Microsoft 365 Business Standard?
Speak to Sprint Integration about a Microsoft 365 review and find out what moving to Business Premium could do for your business. Not sure where your biggest risks are? Start with our Free IT Health Check.
Sometimes the important question isn’t “How much does the upgrade cost?” It’s “How much more protected could my business be?”
