Yes, Microsoft 365 Business Premium costs more per user than Business Standard. About $10 to $12 more per month. Most small businesses look at that number, decide they do not need the security extras, and stay on Standard.
What they do not realize is that now that multi factor is bypassed, even small business should strongly consider Premium for the security controls. Also, Premium includes a device management platform called Microsoft Intune that can eliminate hours of weekly IT friction. Not through better security alone, but through automation that gives your team time back every week.
We have written about what Intune does for security elsewhere on this site. This is about the productivity side: the day-to-day time savings that make the cost difference irrelevant.
Microsoft Business Premium Is Worth It For Time Gains Alone
Here is what IT friction actually looks like in a growing business.
Your finance manager needs software installed. She submits a ticket. Waits for a response. Schedules time for remote access. Gets interrupted while the installation happens. The whole process takes anywhere from hours to days.
Your team gets “updates are ready” notifications in the middle of focused work. They click “remind me later” because they are in the middle of something. The reminders keep coming. Eventually they restart, lose their flow, and the disruption costs time that is hard to measure but very real.
A new hire starts. Their computer arrives. Someone from IT spends two to three hours configuring it, installing applications, setting up access, and applying security policies. The new employee sits idle or works from a personal device while they wait.
None of these are emergencies. They are friction. The kind that is easy to accept as normal because every business deals with it. But Intune eliminates most of it.
Four Things That Change When Intune Is Configured Properly
Updates happen in the background. Intune schedules patches and updates during non-business hours or natural downtime. Your team does not get interruption prompts. Computers restart when they are not being used. No more “remind me later” cycles, no more end-of-quarter fire drills to get everyone patched.
Your team installs approved software themselves. You define which applications are allowed. Those applications appear in the Company Portal app on their computers. Need Zoom for a client meeting in 30 minutes? Install it yourself. No ticket. No wait. IT still controls what is approved, but users get access immediately.
New computers set themselves up (mostly). With Windows Autopilot, a new hire signs in with their company credentials and the computer configures itself. Applications install. Security policies apply. Email connects. Time from opening the box to being productive goes from days to hours.
Device replacement becomes really easy. If a laptop dies or gets lost, the replacement device becomes a near-clone of the original within hours. Applications reinstall. Settings replicate. Security policies apply automatically. What used to mean days of lost productivity now means a few hours of mostly automated setup.
The Math That Makes the Decision Easy
For a 20-person team, the upgrade from Standard to Premium costs about $2,400 to $2,900 per year.
If the Intune automation saves just two hours per month of IT time, whether that is internal staff or your MSP’s billing, that is 24 hours annually. At typical IT service rates, the time savings alone cover the cost difference. That does not account for reduced employee disruptions, faster onboarding, or the security improvements that come with the same license.
The important part: Microsoft does not configure any of this for you. Upgrading to Business Premium does not turn on Autopilot, set up the Company Portal, or create your update schedules. Someone needs to define your application policies, configure compliance requirements, and set up the automation. Without proper implementation, you get the licensing cost without the operational benefit.
What to Do About It
If you are on Business Standard and wondering whether Premium is worth the upgrade, look at how much time your team currently spends on the friction described above. For most growing businesses, the answer makes the decision straightforward.
If you are already on Premium but are not sure whether Intune is actually configured, that is worth checking. The features are included. They just need to be set up.
We configure and support Microsoft 365 environments for Toronto and Durham Region businesses. Not just the security side, but the operational improvements that your team actually feels day to day. Time sucks such as new computer setups and new staff onboarding become streamlined, simple and secure. If you want to know what you are paying for versus what you are using, we can show you.
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