The Wonders of Business Premium

Welcome to a new series by Enforcer focused on the capabilities and value of Microsoft 365 Business Premium. In this series, we will cover what Business Premium is, how it benefits your business and your customers, what it includes, how to have the commercial uplift conversation, and how it ultimately helps you differentiate from competitors. My name is Lewis, and I work at Enforcer. I’m a Microsoft MVP in the Intune category, and while there’s no official category yet, Business Premium is very much my area of focus. You can find me on LinkedIn, on my blog, and at community events such as MMS in the US, MEM Summit Paris, Workplace Ninjas, and Experts Live UK.

Business Basic and Business Standard are the most common entry points we see across MSP environments. Business Basic provides email, web apps, and cloud storage. Business Standard adds desktop apps. What these licenses do not provide is meaningful tenant security. As a result, MSPs often layer on third-party email security, endpoint protection, and other tools. Business Premium is designed to consolidate those requirements into a single license by delivering Intune for device management, Defender for endpoint protection, Entra ID for identity security, and Purview for data protection. Purview is intentionally last, because strong data governance depends on strong identity, device, and access controls.

Security has become central for SMB customers. The role of IT has shifted from device configuration to security ownership. If a customer is breached, MSPs are expected to prevent it where possible and recover it where necessary. SMBs are typically underinvested in security and overexploited, and Business Premium provides a cost-effective way to address this using a single integrated stack. Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report reinforces this, showing that over 99 percent of identity attacks are password-based. MFA is essential, but attackers increasingly bypass basic MFA using techniques such as adversary-in-the-middle attacks. Phish-resistant MFA is now the standard, and it is not achievable with Business Basic or Standard. Business Premium includes Entra ID Plan 1, enabling conditional access controls that define who can sign in, from where, on what device, and under which conditions.

Identity is the foundation of modern security. Without protecting identity first, everything else remains vulnerable. Microsoft’s security model places Entra ID as the foundation, followed by endpoint protection, email protection, and data governance, ultimately supporting Copilot and AI-driven productivity. Intune plays a dual role as both a device management and preventative security platform. Devices enrolled into Intune receive configuration policies, security baselines, and Defender deployment, creating a cloud-native endpoint protected from day one.

Many MSPs express concern about placing all security in one platform. In practice, breaches are far more often caused by misconfiguration than by platform failure. Managing ten loosely configured tools increases risk compared to managing one tightly configured suite. This is the difference between best-of-breed and best-of-suite. A well-configured suite simplifies operations, reduces training overhead, and improves incident response by providing a single timeline across identity, endpoint, and email.

Effective security focuses on preventing incidents before they occur. This is known as “left of boom” security, where identity controls, device hardening, and access restrictions stop attacks before damage occurs. Business Premium enables this preventative approach instead of relying solely on detection and response after compromise. Identity remains the most critical layer. Security defaults hand control to Microsoft, but they are generic and do not account for business-specific risk. Turning off security defaults and implementing well-designed conditional access policies is essential for mature security posture.

Defender for Business has evolved significantly. Since its origins as Windows Defender in 2015, it has grown into a market-leading endpoint protection platform. Defender for Endpoint is consistently ranked as a leader by industry analysts and provides full endpoint protection included in Business Premium. It supports multiple operating systems, includes multiple device activations per user, and integrates directly with Intune and Entra ID. For most SMBs, it is more than sufficient when configured correctly.

Endpoint management has transitioned from on-premises imaging and VPN dependency to cloud-native management. Intune allows organizations to retain Active Directory for identity if required while shifting endpoint control to the cloud using Entra join and cloud Kerberos trust. Security configurations such as BitLocker, SBA protocol hardening, browser controls, extension allowlisting, and patch management are enforced centrally. Intune is a security platform by design. Autopilot further increases efficiency, allowing devices to be shipped directly to users and securely configured on first sign-in.

Email protection is also included. Defender for Office 365 provides Safe Links and Safe Attachments, backed by Microsoft’s global threat intelligence. Safe Links verifies URLs at click-time, and Safe Attachments detonates files in a sandbox before delivery, preventing malicious payloads from reaching inboxes. Layering email protection with identity and endpoint security dramatically reduces overall risk.

Business Premium enables consolidation of security tools while increasing protection. MSPs who focus on mastering the Microsoft stack can reduce vendor sprawl, simplify operations, and deliver consistent security outcomes. Customer conversations shift from adding tools to demonstrating value. With upcoming licensing changes narrowing the gap between Business Standard and Business Premium, now is an ideal time to have these uplift discussions with customers.

As maturity increases, additional capabilities can be layered on, including Intune Suite, Copilot, Defender Suite for Business, and Purview add-ons. Governance-focused initiatives such as advanced data protection and application control represent the next stage of security maturity. This series will continue by walking through configuration, best practices, and how Enforcer helps MSPs manage all of this at scale across multiple tenants.