Hey everyone! With the recent changes to the Microsoft Partner program, we're being pushed to switch our licensing from Microsoft 365 E3, which we're currently using but will soon lose, to Microsoft 365 Business Premium for about 90 users. This new plan includes Teams, Defender, and Intune, so it seems like it has everything we need. My main concerns are:
- Will anything break during the transition?
- Is it possible to assign both E3 and Business Premium licenses temporarily for an overlap?
Additionally, we've been manually assigning licenses user-by-user, but I'm looking to shift to group-based license assignment in Entra ID (Azure AD). Are there any potential issues I should be aware of during this switch? I'd really appreciate insights from anyone who's been through a similar change. Thanks!
1 Answer
You can't assign licenses from different SKU families at the same time. You’ll need to remove the E3 license, let the account become unlicensed, and then assign the Business Premium license. Just ensure that the E3 license is fully removed before you assign the BP license. Trusting other sources for license assignments might not work; I've been burned by relying on Graph before. If Entra ID sees a conflict, you could end up with no license at all, resulting in a hassle. It should take about 60 seconds for the transition, but conflicts can lead to long support tickets.
Will there be a grace period for 30 days? I'm worried about data loss! Also, when the new licenses are assigned, will all the apps like Outlook and Teams just work, or is there more I need to do?