Over 3 million businesses rely on Microsoft 365 every day, but for many, usage still revolves around email, documents, and spreadsheets. That’s a missed opportunity — M365 has steadily evolved into a full business platform, with tools for device management, identity security, remote work, and automation that often fly under the radar.
What Is Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based ecosystem of productivity, collaboration, and security tools. You’ll recognize Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, but Business Premium goes much further — bundling identity management, device control, and security capabilities that used to require separate tools or on-prem infrastructure.
What “Business Premium” Actually Bundles Together
It helps to see the whole picture before diving into individual tools. Business Premium combines the familiar Office apps, cloud identity and access management, device management, advanced threat protection, and information protection into a single per-user subscription, rather than requiring separate purchases and separate vendors for each capability. For a growing business, this consolidation is often the difference between having enterprise-grade security tooling at all and going without it simply because assembling the equivalent from standalone products would cost more, take longer to implement, and require managing several separate vendor relationships instead of one.
1. Windows Autopilot
Provisioning a new computer usually means setting up logins, installing apps, and configuring security — all of it eating valuable time. Windows Autopilot lets IT teams preconfigure devices before they ever reach the employee. Power on, connect to the internet, sign in — everything else is handled automatically.
Why it matters: ideal for remote and hybrid onboarding, consistent security and configuration across every device, and far less hands-on IT time per deployment.
2. Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)
Managing access used to mean maintaining domain controllers and complex network dependencies. Entra ID provides cloud-based identity and access management instead — users sign in once and securely access Microsoft 365, cloud apps, and approved business resources. Key advantages include centralized access management, built-in MFA and conditional access, and reduced reliance on physical servers.
3. Azure Virtual Desktop
Azure Virtual Desktop delivers secure, cloud-hosted desktops to employees wherever they are — no need to rely on powerful local machines. It’s especially useful for widespread teams, contractors, or organizations with strict security requirements, and it keeps company data off personal devices.
4. Microsoft 365 Copilot
Copilot puts AI directly into the tools your team already uses — drafting and refining emails and reports, summarizing meetings and highlighting action items, and analyzing spreadsheets. It’s available as an add-on to Business Premium for teams interested in a user-friendly AI assistant baked into their existing workflow.
5. Intune
Microsoft Intune lets IT teams manage and secure company devices regardless of location — enforcing security policies, deploying updates remotely, and encrypting data without employees needing to hand devices over for configuration changes. For businesses with remote or hybrid employees, Intune is a core piece of maintaining consistency and security.
6. SharePoint
Teams is usually the most visible collaboration tool, but SharePoint does the organizational work behind the scenes — every Teams channel automatically connects to a SharePoint site that stores and structures files, preventing version sprawl and unclear ownership. Users can work from the Files tab in Teams or open SharePoint directly for more advanced organization and permissions.
7. Microsoft Defender for Business
Bundled directly into Business Premium, Defender for Business provides endpoint detection and response, threat and vulnerability management, and automated investigation and remediation, capability that used to require a separate enterprise security product. For businesses that haven’t yet layered on dedicated EDR, this is often already sitting unused inside a subscription they’re already paying for.
Business Premium vs. Standard: What the Upgrade Actually Buys
The jump from Microsoft 365 Business Standard to Business Premium isn’t just a price increase for the same apps, it adds the entire security and device management layer this article covers: Entra ID conditional access, Intune device management, Defender for Business, and Windows Autopilot. Businesses comparing the two tiers purely on the price of Word and Excel are missing the actual value difference, since Standard leaves a business managing devices and identity manually, or not managing them at all, while Premium bundles the tools to do it properly.
Why These Tools Go Unused
Most of these features aren’t hidden on purpose, they’re simply not turned on by default and require someone to actively configure them. Autopilot needs device profiles built before it works. Intune needs policies defined before it enforces anything. Entra ID’s conditional access needs rules written before it actually restricts risky sign-ins. Without a dedicated IT resource actively managing the platform, Business Premium tends to get used the way a much cheaper plan would, which is exactly the gap a managed IT relationship is built to close.
Where to Start If You’re Overwhelmed
Turning on every feature at once isn’t realistic or necessary. A reasonable starting sequence: enable MFA and conditional access through Entra ID first, since identity is the most commonly exploited entry point. Layer in Defender for Business next, since it’s already included and provides immediate endpoint protection value. Autopilot and Intune matter most as you onboard new devices or hires, so they can wait until the next natural device refresh if budget or time is tight right now.
Getting More From Microsoft 365
Business Premium includes far more than most organizations realize. Tools like Autopilot, Entra ID, Azure Virtual Desktop, Copilot, and Intune are built to reduce manual effort, strengthen security, and support flexible work — and that’s only part of the platform. Businesses that take the time to use these features tend to see fewer IT headaches and a better return on their M365 investment.
Looking to get more out of your Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription? Reach out to CelereTech, and we’ll show you exactly how.
