Which Microsoft 365 plan do you actually need?
Microsoft sells about forty different things called "365" and the naming is genuinely absurd. For a small business, you only need to look at three:
| Plan | Cost/user/month | What you get | Pick this if… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Basic | £5.10 | Email (50GB), Teams, OneDrive (1TB), web versions of Word/Excel/PowerPoint | You do most work in a browser, don't need desktop Office, or you're on a tight budget |
| Business Standard | £12.50 | Everything in Basic, plus desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) you install on your computer | You want proper Outlook on your desktop, work offline sometimes, or want the full Office experience. This is the one most small businesses pick. |
| Business Premium | £19.80 | Everything in Standard, plus advanced security (device management, encryption, information protection) | You handle customer data, work in a regulated industry, or staff use their own laptops. If security keeps you up at night, this is worth the extra £7.30. |
Reality check: Most of my small business clients are on Business Standard. The desktop apps alone justify the price — Outlook on your computer is genuinely better than the web version, and having Word and Excel installed locally means you can work if the internet drops. That said, if you have three staff who only need email and the occasional Teams call, Business Basic for them and Standard for yourself is a totally valid mix. You can mix and match licences.
Skip Business Premium unless you have a specific reason. The security features are good but they're overkill for a café, salon, or small trade business. Put the £7.30/month saving toward a proper backup instead.
Step 1: Set up your domain (or buy one through Microsoft)
This is where people get stuck. You need a domain — the bit after the @ in your email — to use business email in Microsoft 365. You have three options:
Option A: You already own a domain (e.g. from GoDaddy, 123-Reg, Ionos, Namecheap)
This is the most common scenario. Microsoft will ask you to verify you own the domain by adding a TXT record to your DNS settings. This sounds technical but it's genuinely a 2-minute copy-paste job — log into your domain registrar, find the DNS settings page, add the record Microsoft gives you, done.
The harder part is the other DNS records — the MX, CNAME, and TXT records that make email actually work. Microsoft gives you a list. You need to add them all, and if you miss one, email silently breaks. Here's what's actually needed:
- MX record — points email to Microsoft's servers. Without this, email doesn't arrive at all.
- CNAME for Autodiscover — makes Outlook set itself up automatically. Without this, you'll be manually typing server names.
- TXT record for SPF — tells the world "Microsoft is allowed to send email from my domain". Without this, your sent email goes to spam.
- DKIM records (two CNAME records) — another anti-spam measure. Without these, some providers (especially Gmail) will flag your messages.
- DMARC record — tells receiving servers what to do with suspicious emails. Start with a "none" policy (monitor only) and tighten it later.
This takes about 15-20 minutes if you know your way around DNS. If you don't, it's the kind of thing where one wrong click makes your email stop for 24 hours while DNS propagates. This is the part I fix most often for customers who tried to DIY it.
Option B: Buy a domain through Microsoft (using GoDaddy)
Microsoft partners with GoDaddy for domain purchases inside the 365 admin centre. The advantage: Microsoft sets up all the DNS records automatically. No copy-pasting, no DNS screens, no risk of breaking anything. The domain costs about £10-15/year — same as buying it anywhere else.
The disadvantage: your domain is now managed through GoDaddy via Microsoft. If you ever leave Microsoft 365, it's a bit more hassle to untangle. But for most small businesses, the convenience is worth it. If you're setting this up yourself and don't have a domain yet, buy it through Microsoft — it'll save you the DNS headache.
Option C: Use a free @outlook.com address
Don't. A business using @outlook.com or @gmail.com for customer email looks temporary and amateurish. It also means you're locked into a platform — if you ever want to move to Google Workspace later, you can't take @outlook.com addresses with you. A domain costs £10/year. Just buy one.
Step 2: Create your user accounts
Once your domain is verified, create a user account for each person. Each account gets its own email address, its own OneDrive (1TB), and its own licence.
You'll want at least these:
- A user for each person — [email protected]. Keep it simple. No nicknames, no numbers unless you have to.
- An admin account for yourself — this should be a separate account from your day-to-day email. Use "admin@" or keep your own account as the admin. The point is: don't do all your everyday work from the account that can delete the entire company. If that account gets compromised, everything is gone.
- Shared mailboxes — info@, sales@, hello@. These aren't full user accounts and don't need a licence. Multiple people can read and reply from them. They're free.
Set a temporary password for each account and force a password change on first login. Tell people to use the Microsoft Authenticator app — not SMS — for two-factor authentication. SMS 2FA is better than nothing, but it's vulnerable to SIM-swap attacks and is slowly being deprecated by Microsoft.
Step 3: Migrate your email from the old provider
If you've been using Gmail, your old web host's email, or a POP/IMAP account, you'll want to bring your old emails, contacts, and calendar into Microsoft 365. There are a few ways:
From Gmail / Google Workspace
Microsoft has a built-in migration tool in the Exchange admin centre. You give it access to the old Gmail account, it copies everything across — emails, calendar, contacts — over a few hours. For 2-3 mailboxes, it's straightforward. For 10+, you might want help — the tool can be finicky about rate limits and authentication scopes.
From a web host's email (cPanel, etc.)
If your old email was part of your hosting package, it's probably using IMAP. The migration tool can handle this too, but you need the IMAP server details, which your hosting company's support can give you. This tends to be slower — IMAP migration can take 12-24 hours for large mailboxes.
From a POP account
POP is trickier because it doesn't store emails on the server — they're on the computer that downloaded them. You'll need to export from the old email program (usually Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail) to a PST file, then import that PST into the new Microsoft 365 mailbox. This is manual and a bit tedious but reliably works.
Important: Do the migration before you tell everyone to start using the new email. Once you switch the MX record, new emails start arriving in Microsoft 365 instantly, but old emails take hours to migrate. Do the migration first, verify everything's there, then switch the DNS. If you're not sure how to sequence this, ask for help — getting it wrong means lost email.
Step 4: Install Office and set up devices
Once accounts are created, each person can install the desktop Office apps on up to five devices (PC, Mac, tablet, phone). They sign in at office.com, click "Install Office", and it downloads. Outlook needs a bit of hand-holding to connect to the new account — but with Autodiscover configured (that CNAME record from Step 1), it usually sets itself up automatically.
On phones: install the Outlook mobile app and sign in. It's better than the built-in mail app, and Microsoft actually maintains it. For Android, also install Microsoft Authenticator for 2FA. For iPhones, the Outlook app handles 2FA natively.
Step 5: The security setup that actually matters
Microsoft 365 is secure if you configure it. Out of the box, it's decent but not great. Here's what you should do in the first week — and what you can ignore:
Do these (they take 30 minutes total)
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for everyone. This is the single biggest security improvement you can make. Without it, a stolen password = a stolen account. With it, a stolen password is useless without the person's phone. Microsoft 365 makes this easy — go to the admin centre, find the MFA settings, and enable it for all users. Use the Microsoft Authenticator app, not SMS.
- Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. I mentioned these in the DNS section. They stop criminals from sending emails that look like they came from you (spoofing). Without these, someone can send an email from "[email protected]" to your customers asking them to update their payment details — and it'll look genuine. With SPF+DKIM+DMARC, those emails get rejected before they reach anyone.
- Turn on audit logging. In the compliance centre, enable mailbox auditing and unified audit logging. It costs nothing and means you can find out who did what if something goes wrong — who deleted the shared folder, who forwarded an email externally, who changed a setting. You won't need it until you really need it, and then it's priceless.
- Configure the default anti-phishing policy. Microsoft includes anti-phishing in all business plans. Go to the Security centre, find Anti-phishing, and turn on the preset that protects your domain and impersonation protection. It takes five minutes and stops the most common attacks.
Skip these (for now)
- Conditional Access policies. Powerful, but complex. You can lock yourself out of your own tenant with one wrong setting. Only touch this if you know what you're doing or you're on Business Premium.
- Information Protection / sensitivity labels. Useful for law firms and accountants. Pointless for a café or a building firm.
- Microsoft Defender for Business. Good product, but it adds £3-5/user/month and needs monitoring. Start with the built-in protection first.
The gotchas — stuff Microsoft won't tell you
I've set up Microsoft 365 for dozens of small businesses. Here's what consistently trips people up:
- "I'll just sign up with my personal Microsoft account." You can't. Microsoft 365 Business is separate from a personal Microsoft account. If you use the same email address for both, you create a weird hybrid account that causes problems for years. Use a different email for the admin account if you already have a personal Microsoft account with that address.
- Licensing is confusing on purpose. Microsoft wants you to buy things you don't need. The sales pages are designed to upsell. Ignore the feature grids with 47 rows of green ticks — focus on the three plans I listed above and ignore everything else until you have a specific problem.
- DNS changes take time. After you add DNS records, they can take 1-48 hours to propagate worldwide. Microsoft's tools will say "not verified" for a while even though you did it right. Be patient. Go make a cup of tea. Come back in an hour. If it still doesn't work after 4 hours, then worry.
- Shared mailboxes don't have passwords. You can't log directly into a shared mailbox like info@. You access it from your own Outlook — it appears underneath your personal inbox. People always get confused by this. It's by design.
- The admin centre is overwhelming. There are about 18 different admin portals and they all have slightly different interfaces. You only need the main one (admin.microsoft.com) and occasionally the Exchange admin centre. Bookmark those two and pretend the others don't exist.
Should you do this yourself or pay someone?
Honest answer: if you're technically comfortable — you know what DNS is, you've configured email before, you don't panic when a screen shows a TXT record value — you can absolutely set up Microsoft 365 yourself. Microsoft's setup wizard walks you through the basics. It'll take you 2-4 hours for a small business with 2-5 users.
If you've never touched DNS, or the phrase "SPF record" means nothing to you, or you simply don't want to spend an afternoon cursing at a grey admin panel — pay someone. The cost (£80-£250 for a full setup) is less than the cost of getting it wrong (lost email, downtime, spam complaints, customers who can't reach you).
The security stuff especially — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MFA — is not optional in 2026. Email providers are increasingly aggressive about blocking unauthenticated mail. If you skip the DNS records, your business email will end up in spam folders, and you won't know why.
What Vengera charges for Microsoft 365 setup
I do one-person, straightforward setups — no upselling, no ongoing contract unless you want one. Here's what that looks like:
- Full setup, 1-5 users: £80-£150. Includes domain verification, DNS records (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), user account creation, email migration from your old provider, shared mailbox setup, MFA enforcement, and a handover showing you how the admin centre works.
- Full setup, 5-15 users: £150-£250. Same as above but scaled — more mailboxes to migrate, more accounts to configure, usually involves a bit of training for staff.
- Email migration only (you did the rest): £40-£80. I'll move your old emails, contacts, and calendar into Microsoft 365. Includes verification that everything arrived intact.
- Security review of existing M365 setup: £60-£100. If you set it up yourself and want someone to check the security — SPF/DKIM/DMARC, MFA, anti-phishing, audit logging — I'll review it and fix anything that's missing or misconfigured.
No call-out fee within Long Eaton, Beeston, Stapleford, Sandiacre and the immediate area. Remote setup is available anywhere — most of this work is done remotely anyway.
As always, the first conversation is free. Tell me what you need and I'll tell you honestly whether it's a DIY job or worth paying someone for.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Microsoft 365 with my existing Gmail?
You can, but you shouldn't. Running Gmail for some people and Microsoft 365 for others is a recipe for calendar invites not syncing, contacts being siloed, and general confusion. Pick one platform and put everyone on it. If you're set on Google, use Google Workspace — there's no point paying for Microsoft 365 if you're not using the email.
Do I need to buy Microsoft 365 licences directly from Microsoft?
You can buy direct from Microsoft (the admin centre handles billing) or through a reseller. The price is usually the same — Microsoft sets the list price and resellers don't discount much. The main reason to use a reseller is if you want someone to handle licence management and support as part of a broader IT package. For most small businesses, buying direct is simpler and cheaper.
What happens to my emails if I stop paying?
Microsoft gives you a 30-day grace period after a cancelled subscription, during which everything still works. After that, your account goes into "disabled" status — you can't send or receive email, but your data is preserved for 90 days. After 90 days, it's deleted permanently. If you think you might leave, export your data (emails to PST, files from OneDrive) before you cancel. Better yet — set up a backup. Microsoft 365 doesn't back up your data by default; it replicates it for availability, but that's not the same as a backup you can restore from.
Can I move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365?
Yes. Microsoft has a migration tool specifically for this. It moves email, calendar, and contacts. Google Drive files need to be manually downloaded and re-uploaded to OneDrive. The whole process takes an afternoon for a small business. The key is to do the migration before switching your domain's MX record — same sequencing as any email migration.
What's the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office 365?
Same thing. Microsoft renamed Office 365 to Microsoft 365 in 2020. If someone says "Office 365", they mean Microsoft 365. The old name still shows up in some admin panels and error messages because Microsoft is bad at renaming things consistently.
Do I need a Microsoft Partner or can I just do it myself?
You don't need a partner. Microsoft 365 is designed to be self-service — you sign up, you follow the wizard, you're up and running. The value of a partner (or someone like me) is speed and confidence: what takes you an afternoon and some Googling takes someone experienced 90 minutes, and you know the security bits are done right. Whether that's worth £80-£150 is a judgement call — there's no wrong answer.
Need Microsoft 365 set up properly?
One person, no contracts, honest prices. I'll set it up right — domain, email, security — and show you how the admin side works so you're not locked into calling me for every little thing.