Microsoft Teams (Standard & Premium) - What to consider from a license management perspective?
Microsoft Teams has established itself as a tool for collaboration in companies. In addition to the common standard license, Microsoft also offers a premium license with extended features. But how exactly are the standard and premium licenses offered and what has changed recently? In this blog post, we take a look at the different licensing options, the background to the recent changes and the extended features of the Premium license. Find out how a decision by the European Commission has affected the availability of Teams and what advantages the Premium license can offer companies.
How is Microsoft Teams (Standard & Premium) offered?
The Microsoft Teams Standard license is available both as a standalone license ("standalone license") and as part of the Microsoft 365 suites. Originally, and until about a year ago, the Teams Standard license was not offered by Microsoft as a standalone license. However, this changed in October last year due to the following reasons.
On July 27, 2023, the European Commission opened formal proceedings to investigate whether Microsoft infringed EU competition rules by bundling Microsoft Teams with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites. These proceedings resulted from a complaint filed by competitors who argued that the bundling of Teams with the M365/O365 suite impaired competition in the collaboration software market. As a result, Microsoft announced on August 31, 2023 that Teams would also be offered as a standalone license in the European Union and Switzerland from October 1, 2023. In October 2023, Microsoft expanded the offer of the standalone license worldwide. New customers are now only offered the Teams license as a standalone license, while existing customers can choose between Teams as part of the M365/O365 Suite and Teams as a standalone license.
The Microsoft Teams Premium license, on the other hand, which has been available since 01.02.2023, is a so-called add-on license that offers additional functions and extended options to optimize the use of Microsoft Teams. It is therefore only available in conjunction with a Teams Standard license (standalone or as part of an M365/O365 suite).
What features are included in the Teams Premium license?
The Teams Premium license offers a variety of advanced features that can be categorized into different topics. Advanced meeting features include live translation, which enables automatic translations (subtitles) of conversations in real time, and advanced analytics, which provide detailed reports and analysis of meeting activity. In the area of security and compliance, the Premium license offers additional security measures such as end-to-end encryption for confidential meetings and advanced compliance features that include tools to comply with legal regulations and internal policies. Another area is personalization and customization. This includes branding options that allow the user interface to be customized with company logos and colors, as well as advanced meeting options that provide additional settings for organizing meetings.
Moving Teams Standard features to the Teams Premium license
With the general availability of Teams Premium in February 2023, Microsoft has moved some features that were previously included in the Teams Standard license to the Teams Premium license. When the features were introduced as part of the Standard license, Microsoft already announced that these features would only be available in Teams Premium in the future.
The functions that have been moved include extended webinar functions. These tools enable companies to organize and run large online events. With the advanced webinar features, organizers can send detailed invitations and reminders, manage participant lists and integrate interactive elements such as polls and Q&A sessions. These functions are particularly useful for companies that regularly hold large meetings or training sessions. Another feature that has been moved to the Premium license is the advanced recording options. While the Standard license offers basic recording features, the Premium license allows for more comprehensive recording and storage of meetings. Users can record meetings in higher quality, save longer recordings and use advanced editing options.
Differentiation of three roles within Teams Premium
There are three different user roles within the Teams Premium license.
- The organizer is responsible for planning and managing meetings and can use all advanced functions and make settings.
- The participant takes part in meetings and can access certain advanced functions that have been approved by the organizer.
- The administrator manages the entire Teams environment and ensures that all security and compliance guidelines are adhered to. They have access to all administrative functions and reports.
Microsoft Teams checks whether a Premium license is available and which role is assigned to the user. There are some features that the organizer with a Premium license makes available to all participants (even without a Premium license) for the duration of the event or "brings along" to the event. Other features can only be used by participants with their own Premium license. If the organizer does not have a Teams Premium license, but the participants do, eligible participants can still use the Premium features. Some Premium features must first be configured in the Teams Admin Center before they are available to participants. These include, for example, end-to-end encryption for meetings with more than 2 participants, adding watermarks to meetings and preventing copying and pasting in meeting chats.
Conclusion
The Microsoft Teams Premium license offers extended functions that go beyond the standard license. By clearly separating the user roles within Teams Premium, Microsoft ensures that the respective roles also have access to the corresponding functions. Overall, the Teams Premium license enables more extensive, secure and customizable usage options for Microsoft Teams. However, it is also necessary to check whether the premium functions are really needed in the company and, if so, which users should be provided with them.
Are you using the Teams version that you really need in your company? We would be happy to support you with questions about licensing Microsoft products.
Author: Lennart Hollweg