Office 365 is a Software as a service (SaaS) solution that combines the traditional Microsoft Office desktop applications, Microsoft application services, and some new productivity services, all of which are enabled as consumable services from within Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
Launched by Microsoft back in June 2011, this subscription-based service is paid on either a monthly or annual basis providing an incredibly cost-effective way for organisations to consume their productivity workloads.

Office 365 contains the same core desktop applications as the traditional versions of Microsoft Office, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, as well as a suite of other apps and online services for cloud file storage, secure communication, and collaboration. Tools such as Planner, OneDrive, Exchange, SharePoint, Yammer and Microsoft Teams all come together to provide an unparalleled user experience.
What is Microsoft 365?
A few months ago, also referred to as office 465 or office465 effectively changing the name from Office 360 to Microsoft 365 – but only for specific licence types – namely the small and medium business SKUs