As we have discussed already this month, understanding the differences between Microsoft 365 and Office 365 is quite challenging. Last week, we provided a grid breaking down the differences between the products. To take things a step farther, this week, we are featuring a glossary. Even if you can see the differences, if you don’t understand Microsoft’s terminology, the grid will not truly help you understand the differences.
Azure Active Directory: Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service, which allows your employees to sign-in and access resources such as Azure portal, Office, your internal sites, as well as thousands of other compatible applications.
Azure Information Protection P1 Email Encryption: Provides the ability to send secure encrypted emails.
BitLocker Encryption: Protects the data on your hard drive in the case that the hard drive is removed (stolen). The data is secured through volume-based encryption to make sure the data cannot be read or removed from the hard drive.
Conditional Access: (CA) Policies that act as if-then statements. If a user wants to access a resource, then they must complete an action. For example, if an employee wants access to the company fileshare they must provide a username and password along with multi-factor authentication.
Groups: A comprehensive set of Office 365 applications that enable groups to communicate and collaborate on specified projects.
Intune: A cloud-based mobility management tool that helps businesses manage the devices employees use to access applications and data. With the assistance of Azure Active Directory, Intune is where permissions are created to maintain a secure separation of sensitive data within an organization.
Microsoft Office: (AKA Office) The group of software initially released in 1990 and included Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and now includes Access, OneNote, Outlook, and Publisher.
OneDrive: The syncing vehicle that delivers files to and from SharePoint giving you access to your files anywhere.
SharePoint: A cloud-based collection site that integrates with Microsoft Office. This collection site is the location of your document library and apps and thus takes the traditional fileshare server out of the mix.
Teams: A platform, that with Office 365 integration, combines cohesive communication and collaboration through workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration.
Windows 10: Microsoft’s latest PC-based operating system. Windows 10 will be the final operating system from Microsoft as they have moved to semi-annual updates through the Windows 10 operating system
Hopefully, the breakdown of this terminology has helped clear up some of the confusion surrounding Microsoft 365. To learn more about Microsoft 365, continue following our blogs as the next two weeks will continue to break down all things Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Additionally, reach out to our Pendello Team with any specific questions or to clarity what you are currently using in your office.
