Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the licence tier I recommend to almost every UK small business I work with. Not because Microsoft pays me to, they don't, but because it hits a point where the included security tooling genuinely justifies the price, and most businesses I see are already paying for Standard without realising they're missing half the reason to be on Microsoft at all.
This is a working engineer's review, not a marketing page. I'll cover what's actually in it, what's genuinely useful, what you won't use, and whether it's worth the cost for your type of business.
What you actually get
Business Premium includes everything in Business Standard: Office apps, Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, plus a substantial security layer on top. The additions that matter most in practice are:
- Microsoft Intune: full mobile device management for Windows, iOS, and Android. Enrol devices, push policies, deploy apps, require encryption, and enforce compliance. This alone is worth the licence step-up for most businesses.
- Microsoft Defender for Business: endpoint detection and response (EDR) for all your devices. Catches malware, ransomware, and suspicious behaviour that traditional antivirus misses.
- Entra ID P1: unlocks Conditional Access, which is the most important identity security control in the Microsoft stack. Lets you block access based on device compliance, location, risk score, and MFA state.
- Defender for Office 365 Plan 1: Safe Links and Safe Attachments. Rewrites URLs at click-time and detonates email attachments in a sandbox before they reach users' inboxes.
- Azure Information Protection P1: sensitivity labels for classifying and protecting documents and emails.
- Microsoft Purview (basic): data loss prevention policies for Exchange and SharePoint.
What's genuinely useful vs what you'll ignore
⚡ Honest breakdown| Feature | Useful in practice? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Intune MDM | Very | If you have Windows devices, this is the core reason to be on Premium. Manages everything centrally. |
| Defender for Business | Yes | Better than any third-party AV at this price point. Integrates natively with Intune. |
| Conditional Access | Very | Critical for zero-trust. Requires P1 which is only in Premium and above. |
| Safe Links & Attachments | Yes | Stops a meaningful number of phishing attacks. Set it up once and forget it. |
| Sensitivity Labels | Depends | Valuable for businesses handling confidential client data. Overkill for many SMBs. |
| DLP Policies | Depends | Worth using, but requires time to configure properly. Not plug-and-play. |
| Azure AD P1 SSPR | Yes | Self-service password reset reduces helpdesk load noticeably. |
| Intune App Protection | Yes | Protects company data on personal phones without full device enrolment. |
Who should be on Business Premium
Based on what I see in practice, Business Premium makes clear sense if any of the following apply:
- You have Windows devices that need central management, patching, or encryption
- You need to pass Cyber Essentials certification for insurance or contracts
- You handle client or financial data and need to demonstrate data protection controls
- You've had a security incident or near-miss and want proper endpoint visibility
- Your team use personal phones for work email and you want to protect company data on them
- You have 5 or more users. The per-user cost becomes more proportionate at this scale
Who probably doesn't need it
Business Standard is the right choice if you're a very small team (one to three people), you have no managed Windows devices, staff only use web-based apps and personal devices, and security isn't a contractual requirement. Paying for Premium licences you're not using is just wasted money.
Verdict
For most UK small businesses with managed Windows devices, Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the right call. The £9.40 per user per month premium over Standard buys you Intune, Conditional Access, and Defender for Business, tools that would cost a lot more if purchased separately or from third-party vendors. The catch is that getting value from it requires proper configuration. Out of the box it doesn't do much you'd notice.