You’re probably familiar with the Microsoft Office suite of applications, including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel. Microsoft rebranded the subscription-based Office suite as Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise (although it’s frequently called just Microsoft 365 Apps). For those who are relatively new to the Microsoft 365 platform, the desktop product suite has most recently been called Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus. Not all of the Microsoft products have been refreshed to reflect the current naming, so you still may see legacy references to Microsoft Office or Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus when working with certain interfaces.
Regardless of the name, though, the Microsoft 365 Apps product bundle has always differentiated itself from the standard Office software you purchase through retail outlets. The differentiators are primarily its subscription-based licensing model (as opposed to perpetual licensing), as well as integration with advanced Microsoft 365 features such as Defender for Office and Safe Links.
This chapter covers the following exam objective areas:
- Planning for client connectivity and device capability
- Planning Microsoft 365 Apps compatibility
- Planning for Microsoft 365 Apps updates
- Configuring Microsoft 365 Apps with the admin center
- Implementing Microsoft 365 Apps deployment
Let’s get started!
Planning for client connectivity and device capability
Since Microsoft 365 Apps is primarily delivered via the cloud, it’s important to make sure client endpoints are able to communicate with the service platform.
In order to successfully deploy them, you’ll need to make sure that both your endpoint devices and network can support the transfer, storage, and processing requirements of the Microsoft 365 Apps suite.
Microsoft lists these core requirements for Microsoft 365 Apps:
- 4 GB RAM (64-bit machines) or 2 GB RAM (32-bit machines)
- 4 GB of available hard disk space (Windows) or 10 GB of available hard disk space (macOS)
- Windows 8.1 or later or the macOS current version, in addition to two previous versions
- Network connectivity for the appropriate services (under Microsoft 365 Common and Office Online), as noted at https://aka.ms/o365endpoints
- The Microsoft 365 apps are licensed per user and require internet access to be activated, as well as internet access every 30 days to verify that the user’s license subscription has not expired, and is otherwise revoked
Client readiness
For organizations that migrate to Microsoft 365 Apps from either previous versions of the perpetual license products or from competing product suites, device compatibility is the most difficult hurdle to overcome. Microsoft recommends that all devices be updated to the most current version of the operating systems and browsers that the organization uses to ensure the most successful deployment or migration.