Microsoft 365 Business Premium
the SMB security bundle hiding in plain sight.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium for SoCal SMBs — the M365 tier that includes Microsoft Defender for Business (EDR), Microsoft Intune (MDM/MAM), Azure AD Premium P1 (Conditional Access), Azure Information Protection P1, and Exchange Online Archiving. The licensing most SMBs need but skip in favor of Business Standard. WCC deploys, configures, and manages the security features Business Standard customers don't have.
M365 Business Premium — the productivity tier with the security stack built in
Microsoft 365 Business Basic. Business Standard. Business Premium. Most SoCal SMBs sit on Business Standard — the productivity tier with Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, and the desktop Office apps. Business Premium adds the security stack: Microsoft Defender for Business (EDR), Microsoft Intune (MDM/MAM), Azure AD Premium P1 (Conditional Access), Azure Information Protection P1, Exchange Online Archiving. About $22 per user per month vs $12.50 for Standard.
Most SoCal SMBs don't license Business Premium. Cyber insurance underwriters started asking about MFA, Conditional Access, and EDR coverage. Compliance frameworks (NIST 800-171, GLBA Safeguards Rule, HIPAA) require capabilities Business Standard doesn't include. The MSP that recommended Business Standard three years ago hasn't revisited it. The SMB is paying for security features it doesn't have — through a separate EDR vendor, a separate MDM vendor, a separate archive vendor — that Business Premium would have included.
This page covers WCC's Business Premium practice. For Defender for Business specifically, see Microsoft Defender for Business. For Intune specifically, see Microsoft Intune Management. For broader managed IT, see managed services. Start with a free IT consultation.
Three security gaps Business Standard leaves open
Business Standard solves the productivity problem. It does not solve the security problem. Three things every modern SMB needs that Business Standard does not include.
Business Standard ships without EDR
Microsoft Defender for Business — behavioral detection, automated investigation and response, attack surface reduction rules — is included with Business Premium and unavailable on Business Standard. SMBs on Standard pay for third-party EDR, often at higher per-user cost than the licensing difference.
Conditional Access requires Azure AD P1
Conditional Access policies (location-based, device-compliant, risk-based MFA enforcement) require Azure AD Premium P1. Included with Business Premium. Not available on Business Standard. Without Conditional Access, MFA is on/off — not contextual.
Intune ships only with Premium
Microsoft Intune (MDM, MAM, Autopilot, compliance policies) ships with Business Premium. Business Standard customers manage devices manually or pay for a third-party MDM. Most BYOD and remote work environments need Intune.
Why choose WCC for Business Premium licensing & management
M365 licensing decisions are high-leverage — the right tier per user group saves thousands per month while improving security posture. The right partner has the Microsoft stack depth and the security operations to actually activate what's licensed.
22+ years Microsoft stack work
Two decades of Microsoft platform work for SoCal businesses. Business Premium licensing optimization is not a learning curve.
Basic · Standard · Premium · E3 · E5
Vendor-neutral on tier selection. Right-sized licensing per user group — not blanket Business Premium for everyone, not blanket Business Standard for everyone.
Security features actually turned on
Most Business Premium tenants have Defender, Intune, and Conditional Access in default mode. WCC activates and tunes the security capabilities the customer is already paying for.
Compliance + cyber insurance documentation
Coverage reports, MFA enforcement, EDR deployment, Conditional Access policies — formatted for cyber insurance applications and compliance audits.
The six service areas of Business Premium management
Every Business Premium engagement is scoped to user count, user-group differentiation, regulatory environment, and existing maturity. These are the six service areas every engagement covers.
Tier Assessment & Right-Sizing
Per-user tier assessment. Business Basic for kiosk and frontline workers. Standard for productivity-only users. Premium for users needing the security stack. E3/E5 for advanced compliance and analytics. The right tier per user group, not blanket licensing.
Defender for Business Enablement
Configure Microsoft Defender for Business out of basic AV mode. Behavioral detection. Automated investigation and response (AIR). Attack surface reduction rules. Policy tuning. See Microsoft Defender for Business.
Intune Device Management
Deploy Microsoft Intune for MDM and MAM. Autopilot for zero-touch deployment. Compliance policies. Conditional access integration. See Microsoft Intune Management.
Conditional Access Policies
Azure AD Premium P1 Conditional Access policies. Location-aware. Device-compliant. Risk-based MFA enforcement. Block legacy authentication. The policies that turn baseline MFA into actual access governance. See MFA management.
Information Protection & DLP
Azure Information Protection (AIP) P1 labeling and DLP. Sensitivity labels. Encryption. Rights management for sensitive documents. SharePoint and Teams data governance. Foundational for HIPAA, GLBA, and CUI environments.
Exchange Online Archiving
100GB Exchange Online Archive per user. Litigation hold. eDiscovery. Compliance archiving. Required for many regulated industries and useful for everyone. Reduces the need for third-party archive vendors.
M365 Business Premium — common questions
Business Basic ($6/user/month) includes Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams web/mobile apps — no desktop Office. Business Standard ($12.50/user/month) adds the desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). Business Premium ($22/user/month) adds the security stack: Microsoft Defender for Business (EDR), Microsoft Intune (MDM/MAM), Azure AD Premium P1 (Conditional Access), Azure Information Protection P1, and Exchange Online Archiving. All three tiers cap at 300 users; above that, M365 Apps for Enterprise, E3, or E5 apply.
Microsoft Defender (the consumer/built-in Windows version) is signature-based antivirus included with every Windows installation. Microsoft Defender for Business is EDR (endpoint detection and response) with behavioral detection, automated investigation and response (AIR), attack surface reduction (ASR) rules, threat and vulnerability management, and web content filtering. Defender for Business is included with Business Premium or available standalone for $3/user/month. See Microsoft Defender for Business.
Microsoft Intune is the Microsoft device management platform — mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management (MAM), Windows Autopilot zero-touch deployment, compliance policies, app deployment, and conditional access integration. Works across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Included with Business Premium, E3, and E5. The platform that enables zero-trust device compliance enforcement. See Microsoft Intune Management.
Conditional Access is the Azure AD (now Entra ID) policy engine that enforces sign-in conditions based on signals: user, group, device compliance state, application, network location, sign-in risk, user risk. Common policies: require MFA when signing in from outside a trusted IP range, require compliant device for access to Exchange, block legacy authentication, require phishing-resistant MFA for privileged users. Requires Azure AD Premium P1, included with Business Premium. Without Conditional Access, MFA is on/off — not contextual.
Business Premium provides many of the technical capabilities required by these frameworks — MFA, Conditional Access, EDR, encryption, audit logging, data loss prevention. But licensing capabilities is not the same as having a compliance program. For NIST 800-171 contractor environments handling CUI, M365 Business Premium is generally not sufficient — M365 GCC High is required. For GLBA and HIPAA, Business Premium provides the foundational controls but the written program, risk analysis, training, and documentation work happens at the compliance program level.
Business Premium is $22 per user per month (annual commitment) compared to Business Standard at $12.50. The $9.50 per user per month delta delivers Defender for Business (typically $3-5 standalone), Intune (typically $4-8 standalone), Azure AD Premium P1 (typically $6 standalone), AIP P1 (typically $2-4 standalone), and Exchange Online Archiving (typically $3 standalone). For most SMBs already paying for any one of these as standalone, Business Premium pays back the delta immediately. For SMBs paying for two or more, Business Premium is a meaningful cost savings while improving security posture. WCC's standard review identifies the actual licensing offset.
M365 Business Premium across Southern California
WCC delivers Business Premium licensing optimization and management across all six SoCal counties — remote-first since M365 work is cloud-delivered. Headquartered in Chino.
Business Standard plus three vendors costs more than Business Premium.
Most SMBs on Business Standard pay separately for EDR, MDM, and Conditional Access. Business Premium includes all three plus AIP and Exchange Online Archiving. WCC will audit your current M365 licensing, identify the security capabilities you're paying for elsewhere, and scope a right-sized tier assignment per user group. Implementation included.