Microsoft 365 for Business— managed by PIP, not just supplied
Any reseller can hand you a subscription. PIP gives you partner pricing on the licences and a team running everything behind them.
The licence is the easy part
Microsoft 365 is the productivity platform most Sydney businesses already run on — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, now with Microsoft Copilot built in. Buying the licences is simple. Any reseller can create a Microsoft account, attach a subscription and email you a login.
The harder part is everything behind the licence: identity in Microsoft Entra ID, multi-factor authentication, Conditional Access, security policy, user provisioning and ongoing licence management. Most providers sell you Microsoft 365 — or Office 365, as it used to be known — and stop at the invoice.
PIP has been a Microsoft partner since the early 2000s. You get partner pricing on the licences, and a managed service running the environment those licences sit in — from the first user account you create to the hundredth.
A complete platform, on every device
Microsoft 365 is a complete productivity platform — not just email and a few Office apps. The same subscription runs across Windows PCs, Mac, iOS and Android phones, and any modern web browser, so staff get full access on whatever device is in front of them. Each user can install the desktop apps on up to five devices, use the mobile versions on a phone or tablet, and keep working in the browser on someone else’s machine. Files live in the cloud through OneDrive, edits sync in real time, and Microsoft’s cross-device design gives users a genuinely seamless experience moving between desktop, web and mobile.
Productivity & creation Desktop · Web · Mobile
Word
Documents, contracts and proposals — with Copilot on hand to draft, rewrite and summarise.
Excel
Spreadsheets, models and reporting, with data insights and formula help from Copilot.
PowerPoint
Presentations and pitch decks — Copilot can build a first draft from a prompt or outline.
OneNote
Shared notebooks for teams, projects and meetings — synced across the desktop apps and mobile.
Clipchamp
Microsoft Clipchamp for quick in-house video editing — onboarding clips, social posts and training.
Microsoft Designer
AI-assisted design tool for graphics and social content — generate and edit visuals from a description.
Communication Email · Chat · Meetings
Outlook
Business email, calendar and contacts on Exchange Online — with Copilot to draft replies and summarise long threads.
Microsoft Teams
Chat, calls, meetings and shared channels — the hub where most teams now do day-to-day work.
Storage & collaboration Cloud · Real-time
OneDrive
Secure cloud storage for every user — files on any device, real-time sync, and OneDrive save built into the apps.
SharePoint
Team sites and document libraries for shared files, with real-time collaboration so people can share files and co-author the same document at once.
Microsoft 365 mobile app
The unified Microsoft Office app brings your apps, files and Copilot into one place on a phone — app availability varies by plan and platform.
AI Where the Copilot icon appears
Microsoft Copilot
The AI assistant built into Microsoft 365. A Copilot icon appears in the toolbar of individual apps — covered in detail below.
Microsoft Copilot, where the work happens
Microsoft Copilot is the AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365 — you’ll see the Copilot icon in the toolbar wherever it’s available. These are genuinely innovative AI features: rather than a separate chatbot, the AI-powered features sit inside the apps your staff already use, acting as an AI companion to the work in front of them.
Copilot in Word
Draft a first version from a short brief, rewrite a clumsy paragraph in a different tone, or summarise a long document into a few key points. Useful for proposals, policies and reports where a blank page is the slowest part.
Copilot in Excel
Ask questions of your data in plain English, surface trends, and get help building formulas and pivot views without remembering the exact syntax.
Copilot in PowerPoint
Create a presentation from a prompt or an existing Word document, generate speaker notes, and restructure or tidy slides without starting from a blank deck.
Copilot in Outlook
Draft and refine emails, catch the key points in a long thread with a quick summary, and pull out the actions you actually need to respond to.
Copilot features require a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence in addition to the base subscription — a premium subscription required for the full experience, and not included in every tier. AI features are available to the subscription owner and licensed users only, and usage limits apply to Copilot credits (your allocation of AI credits). Microsoft also offers Security Copilot, a separate AI product for security teams. For most businesses, these AI-powered features are a real productivity lift — but only when the Microsoft 365 environment underneath them is set up and managed correctly, which is exactly where PIP comes in.
OneDrive — with a safety net
Microsoft 365 includes OneDrive cloud storage, so every user’s files are available from any device with real-time sync and OneDrive save built straight into the apps. It’s one of the cloud-based services that makes the platform work the same whether someone is at their desk, on a laptop, or on their phone.
OneDrive also includes ransomware protection. If files are hit, Microsoft can detect the event and walk you through restoring them to a point before the damage — and version history covers the everyday case of unsaved files recovery and accidental overwrites.
Storage allocation differs by plan: personal cloud storage on consumer plans includes 1 TB, while business tiers vary, and additional storage is available on the plans that support it. As with the rest of the platform, usage limits apply — storage quotas are set per subscription.
What’s in the box
- Secure cloud storage for every licensed user
- Real-time sync across desktop, web and mobile
- Ransomware protection with guided file restore
- Version history for unsaved files recovery
- Additional storage on supported plans
Enterprise-grade security, not bolt-ons
A real advantage of Microsoft 365 for business over consumer plans is the security stack built into the platform. The features are there — the question is whether they’ve been switched on and configured properly. They usually haven’t.
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Defender advanced security protects against malware, phishing and cyber threats across email and endpoints — advanced digital security that runs in the background.
Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is built in. PIP enforces it for every managed client from day one — not left as an optional setting.
Conditional Access
Policies that decide who can sign in, from where, and on what device. Covered in depth on our Microsoft Entra ID page — set correctly, not at defaults.
Encryption & email protection
Built-in email protection and encryption keep data protected in transit and at rest, with anti-phishing and anti-spam filtering on every mailbox.
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview adds compliance tools for data governance, retention and audit — for businesses that need to demonstrate how information is handled.
ISO/IEC 27001
Microsoft 365 complies with ISO/IEC 27001 and provides compliance tools for tracking device compliance and user permissions — relevant for any business with its own obligations.
The full security stack — Defender for Business, Intune device management and advanced Conditional Access — unlocks at the Microsoft 365 Business Premium tier. Most Sydney SMBs that need real security belong there.
Why Business PremiumThe business plans — and the one you actually need
Microsoft 365 offers several subscription plans, and the right one depends on the size of the business, its security requirements, and which features people genuinely use. PIP advises on the right tier, because many Sydney businesses are on the wrong one — paying for features they never touch, or sitting on a plan that’s missing the security they should have. The four Business tiers are below; Enterprise plans (E1, E3, E5) exist for larger organisations with heavier compliance needs.
| Per user, per month | Apps for Business | Business Basic | Business Standard | Recommended for most Business Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web & mobile apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Business email (Exchange Online) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Teams | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OneDrive cloud storage | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB |
| Device management (Intune) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Defender for Business + advanced security | — | — | — | ✓ |
Business vs personal
Microsoft 365 Personal is a consumer subscription for a single user, and Microsoft 365 Family covers up to six people in a household — published at AU$159 and AU$329 per year respectively. They’re built for individuals: business users need a Business or Enterprise tier with email, central management and security.
Subscription vs one-time
A subscription service stays current and installs on up to five devices per user. A one-time purchase — perpetual Microsoft Office 2024, or the older Office 2021 — installs on one computer and never changes. PIP supplies both models; see full Microsoft licensing options.
Which one plan
Features vary across tiers and app availability varies by plan, so the answer is rarely “the cheapest”. Whether you’re a new buyer or an existing subscriber on the wrong tier, PIP works out the one plan — or mix of plans — that fits how your team actually works.
What PIP actually manages
This is the part a reseller doesn’t do. PIP doesn’t just supply the licence — it runs the Microsoft 365 environment as an ongoing managed service, so the platform stays secure, correctly licensed and properly configured as your business changes.
- Microsoft Entra ID configuration and ongoing management — the identity backbone of your tenant
- MFA enforcement and Conditional Access policy across every account
- Microsoft account management — user provisioning for new staff, deprovisioning for leavers
- Licence auditing so you’re not over-licensed or under-licensed
- SharePoint structure and Teams configuration set up around how you work
- Security features management and regular reporting
- Web and mobile access set up so staff can reach Microsoft 365 on every device
- One number for everything Microsoft — licences, support, security and user changes
Clients get a dedicated account manager and a senior engineer who know your environment — not an anonymous ticket queue. Microsoft’s own compliance documentation lives in the Microsoft Trust Center; PIP handles the configuration that makes those controls real in your tenant. Deeper identity work is covered on our Microsoft Entra ID page.
Audit & document
Review the tenant, find the gaps — missing MFA, no Conditional Access, wrong licensing.
Configure & secure
Set up Entra ID, enforce MFA, build Conditional Access and Defender policy correctly.
Manage day-to-day
Provisioning, support, licence changes and user moves handled as they come up.
Review & report
Regular licence audits and security reporting so nothing drifts back out of shape.
Microsoft 365, managed properly — start here
Talk to PIP about Microsoft 365A partner, not a portal
PIP has been a Microsoft partner since the early 2000s — one of Australia’s longest-standing Microsoft partners in the SMB market, well before most Sydney competitors signed up. That partner account means partner pricing on every Microsoft product, priority support channels, and early access to new features as Microsoft releases them.
It also means the full Microsoft catalogue, not just subscriptions: perpetual licences (Office 2024, formerly part of what Microsoft now calls Microsoft 365), Windows Server and SQL Server licences, Client Access Licences and volume licensing arrangements. Most providers only resell M365 seats through a portal. See our full Microsoft licensing options for the complete range.
Where PIP fits
New to Microsoft 365
A small business moving to Microsoft 365 for the first time, that wants it set up correctly and securely from day one rather than figured out later.
On it, but unmanaged
A business already on Microsoft 365 with nobody managing the environment — licences bought through a reseller, settings never reviewed, and no one to call.
IT team, no specialist
Larger, medium sized businesses with an internal IT team but no Microsoft specialist — and distributed staff who need web and mobile access managed properly. From 10 staff to 200, the gap is the same.
They’d been paying for Business Premium for eighteen months. Nobody had ever turned on Intune or Defender. They were buying enterprise security and getting none of it — we fixed that in the first week.
Microsoft 365, answered
Is Microsoft 365 now free?
No — Microsoft 365 is a paid subscription service. There are limited free options: free web versions of apps like Word and Excel, and trials of some plans. But anything a business relies on — Exchange Online email, Microsoft Teams, central management and security — sits in a paid Business tier.
If you’ve seen “free”, it’s almost always a consumer trial or the cut-down web apps, not the business product.
How much does Microsoft 365 cost?
For consumers, Microsoft publishes set prices: Microsoft 365 Personal is AU$159 per year for one user with 1 TB of OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 Family is AU$329 per year for up to six people.
Business pricing is different and depends on the tier and the number of users, so there’s no single sticker price. Contact PIP for partner pricing tailored to your requirements — we’ll size it to the plan you actually need rather than the one you’ve drifted onto.
How much is Office 365 in Australia?
Office 365 is now called Microsoft 365 — same product family, newer name. Pricing varies by plan. The consumer prices above are public; business licensing depends on tier and user count.
As a Microsoft partner, PIP supplies business licences at partner pricing — get in touch with your user numbers and requirements and we’ll give you a figure for your situation.
What is Microsoft 365, and why am I paying for it?
Microsoft 365 is a subscription productivity suite: email through Exchange Online and Outlook, collaboration through Microsoft Teams, document creation in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, cloud storage in OneDrive, AI features through Copilot, and security through Microsoft Defender.
You’re paying for an always-current platform rather than a one-time purchase. The subscription keeps the software updated, adds new features over time, includes cloud storage and connects everything across devices and security that perpetual, boxed Office simply doesn’t have. Usage limits apply to things like storage and Copilot credits, and Microsoft accounts carry minimum age limits set per region — both worth knowing when you set users up. The real value, though, comes from having the environment managed — which is the gap PIP fills.
One conversation covers all of it
Whether you need new Microsoft 365 licences, want to migrate from an older system, or need someone to take over and manage an existing tenant — that’s the conversation to have with PIP.