Microsoft 365 for fully remote teams

Check the subscription SKU and assign licences to people, not computers

Before ordering, verify the exact subscription name, whether Teams is included, the subscription term and the billing frequency. Microsoft offers business subscriptions with and without Teams, so a familiar plan name alone is not enough to establish meeting and chat entitlement. An annual commitment billed monthly is also different from a monthly commitment: instalments do not necessarily give you a monthly cancellation right. Check the purchasing agreement before committing seats for temporary staff.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses individual users rather than a pool of simultaneous users. Each licensed person can install Microsoft 365 apps on up to five PCs or Macs, five tablets and five phones. Those installation allowances do not permit five employees to share one subscription or sign-in. Under Microsoft’s Product Terms, licence reassignment is generally restricted within 90 days, with specified exceptions; do not treat spare seats as a daily rotating pool for freelancers.

• Confirm Teams entitlement on the exact product listing and order.
• Distinguish subscription commitment length from payment frequency.
• Give each employee a separate work account and assigned licence.
• Treat personal laptops used by the same person as devices, not additional users.
• Check the Product Terms’ reassignment exceptions before moving recently assigned seats.

Move company email without breaking delivery or Outlook access

Adding a domain to Microsoft 365 does not automatically migrate existing mail. Start by verifying domain ownership, creating users and destination mailboxes, and choosing a migration method supported by the current provider. An IMAP migration transfers email but not calendars, contacts or tasks, so those require a separate plan. Change the domain’s MX record only when the destination is ready, and keep the old service accessible while you validate delivery and finish any remaining transfers.

Inventory every service that sends messages using your domain before changing email authentication records. Microsoft 365, a marketing platform and a website contact form may all need consideration. Maintain one SPF record for each domain name rather than publishing competing SPF records, and configure DKIM for your custom domain. Introduce DMARC with reporting and a policy appropriate to your verified senders. Test Outlook, mobile clients and external delivery rather than assuming successful webmail access proves the migration is complete.

• Record existing DNS settings and inventory mailboxes, aliases and distribution groups.
• Decide how calendars, contacts and historical mail will move.
• Pilot the migration with a small group before changing organisation-wide delivery.
• Update MX and Autodiscover records according to Microsoft’s domain setup guidance.
• Test inbound mail, outbound mail and messages from third-party sending services.

Separate employee access, client collaboration and company-owned files

A client who only needs to review project documents usually does not need one of your employee subscriptions. SharePoint and OneDrive support external sharing, subject to organisation and site settings, and authenticated guests can collaborate on permitted content without receiving a full Microsoft 365 licence in your tenant. That guest access does not provide a company mailbox or desktop Office entitlement. If a contractor needs those services from your organisation, assess and assign the appropriate licences separately.

Use SharePoint sites and document libraries for material that belongs to a department or project, rather than leaving the only working copy in an employee’s OneDrive. OneDrive suits individual working files, but its account-linked lifecycle becomes important when someone leaves. For client work, prefer named-recipient sharing over anonymous links when accountability matters. Give each project a clear owner, review guest access periodically and check the site’s permissions before uploading information that other clients must not see.

• Define whether each contractor needs guest collaboration or a licensed work account.
• Use separate sites where clients or projects require distinct access boundaries.
• Prefer Specific people links for confidential external collaboration.
• Keep durable team records in SharePoint rather than personal work folders.
• Review guest membership and direct sharing permissions when a project ends.

Offboard staff while preserving mail and controlling shared-mailbox access

Removing a licence is not a complete offboarding procedure and can put access to business records at risk. First block the departing employee’s sign-in, revoke active sessions and review any organisation-managed devices. Then decide who needs their email and files, and transfer or preserve that information using supported administration tools. Review OneDrive retention settings before deleting the account; retention is configurable, and a deleted employee’s personal file area should not become your permanent team archive.

For a mailbox that needs to remain available to colleagues, conversion to a shared mailbox can be appropriate. A shared mailbox can hold up to 50 GB without its own licence, but each person accessing it needs a licensed Exchange Online mailbox. Larger mailboxes and features such as archiving or litigation hold require additional licensing checks. Convert and verify access before removing the original licence, keep the underlying account and block direct sign-in to that account.

• Check legal, contractual and operational retention needs before deleting content.
• Confirm mailbox size and required compliance features before conversion.
• Grant Full Access and Send As permissions separately where needed.
• Do not distribute a shared mailbox’s account password.
• Keep the account associated with a shared mailbox; do not delete it.
• Remove unnecessary licences only after preservation and access checks are complete.

Where remote teams should keep information and how access is licensed