Microsoft 365 Business Basic

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In today’s fast-paced digital world, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need a reliable, secure, and cost-effective productivity suite that enhances collaboration, streamlines operations, and protects sensitive data. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is an entry-level subscription plan that provides businesses with essential tools for communication, document management, automation, and security—all within the Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

This article provides an in-depth breakdown of all Microsoft 365 Business Basic features—focusing on business use cases, security aspects, and general usability. Whether you’re a small business owner, IT admin, or decision-maker evaluating Microsoft 365, this guide will help you understand how Business Basic supports your company’s productivity and security needs.

Microsoft 365 apps ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Microsoft 365 for mobile
Provides access to Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) on iOS and Android devices for on-the-go productivity​. Users can create and edit documents with full commercial usage rights on mobile, with changes syncing to the cloud. This enables employees to work from anywhere and collaborate in real time via their phones or tablets. Company data remains secured by requiring sign-in to Microsoft 365, and admins can enforce policies (like PIN lock or wipe) on mobile apps to protect business information.

Microsoft 365 for the web
Offers web-based versions of core Office apps accessible through a browser, with no installation needed​. Users can create, edit, and co-author Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook files online while always working with the latest version. It’s ideal for lightweight devices or remote access, letting staff collaborate in real time on documents from any internet-connected computer. All data stays within the organization’s cloud, secured by Microsoft’s enterprise-grade measures (including encryption and automatic saving to OneDrive/SharePoint).

Visio for the web
Allows users to create, edit, and share professional diagrams (flowcharts, org charts, layouts, etc.) right from the browser. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes the Visio web app​ so teams can visualize business processes and workflows without a standalone Visio license. It supports real-time co-authoring, letting multiple colleagues build diagrams together. Diagrams are saved in OneDrive/SharePoint, benefiting from version control and the same security (permissions and compliance) as other Office files.

Create and share Microsoft Loop components and pages
Empowers dynamic collaboration through Loop, a new co-creation canvas. Users can generate Loop components (portable pieces of content like tables, task lists, or paragraphs) and Loop pages (flexible canvases to organize components) to brainstorm and manage projects​. In Business Basic, employees can create and share these components in Teams chats, Outlook emails, or Word for the web, with changes syncing instantly wherever the component is embedded. This drives business productivity by keeping information in sync across apps, so everyone always sees the latest updates. All Loop content is stored in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive/SharePoint), so it’s securely managed and compliant with organizational data policies.

Contribute to Loop components pages and workspaces
Even if Business Basic users cannot initiate brand-new Loop workspaces (the top-level project hubs) due to plan limits​, they can fully participate in Loop collaboration. They are able to contribute to existing Loop pages and workspaces created by others – adding or editing components, commenting, and tagging colleagues. This inclusive approach means all team members can engage in real-time content creation, regardless of their license tier. It supports business use cases like co-authoring meeting notes or updating project trackers collaboratively in one place. All contributions are tracked and secured under the organization’s Microsoft 365 tenancy, and admins retain oversight for compliance (with audit logs capturing Loop activities just like other Office edits).

Email, calendar, and scheduling ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Exchange Plan 1 50 GB mailbox
Each user gets a business-class Outlook mailbox with 50 GB of email storage​. This large capacity supports archiving years of communications, which is valuable for client correspondence and record-keeping in a business. Users can send and receive mail on a custom domain (e.g., [email protected]) and attach files up to 150 MB. Exchange Online ensures high reliability and security – emails are hosted on Microsoft’s servers with data replication and backup, and come with built-in encryption (SSL/TLS) in transit. The service integrates with Outlook on web, desktop, and mobile, so employees can access their mail and contacts from anywhere while admins manage policies centrally (like litigation holds or data loss prevention on emails).

Calendar
Integrated Outlook calendaring helps users manage appointments and meetings efficiently. Employees can schedule meetings, set reminders, and share their free/busy availability with colleagues or external clients. With Business Basic, users can use shared calendars to coordinate team schedules and book resources (like meeting rooms)​. Calendar data syncs across devices, meaning a meeting scheduled on a PC will show up on the user’s phone. This feature improves productivity by avoiding double-bookings and speeding up meeting planning (e.g. by viewing coworkers’ availability). From a security standpoint, calendar sharing can be controlled (users can define delegate access or public/free-busy only), and all calendar data is stored in Exchange Online – benefiting from the same secure infrastructure and compliance protections as email.

Exchange Online Protection
Built-in email security filters that guard the business against spam, phishing, and malware. All emails in Business Basic are processed through Exchange Online Protection’s multi-layered scanning: it uses multiple anti-malware engines and advanced heuristics to scan inbound, outbound, and internal messages for threats​. Suspicious messages are blocked or quarantined, reducing the risk of cyberattacks like ransomware or business email compromise. For end users, this means a cleaner inbox with less junk, and for IT, fewer incidents to remediate. EOP updates its threat definitions continuously, and admins can configure custom anti-spam policies or safelists as needed. This enterprise-grade email security is included at no extra cost, helping businesses stay secure by default.

Meetings, calling, and chat ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Microsoft Teams
The centralized hub for teamwork in Microsoft 365, enabling employees to chat, call, meet, and collaborate all in one place. Teams supports persistent instant messaging (1:1 or group chats), audio/video conferencing, and integrations with other apps. It provides rich online meeting and web conferencing capabilities (including screen sharing, whiteboards, and file collaboration) and works across desktop, web, and mobile​. In a business context, Teams allows remote and in-office workers to communicate seamlessly – from quick questions in chat to scheduled client meetings with video. Teams also integrates with other Microsoft 365 services: for example, users can co-edit documents during calls, or a Team channel can directly surface a SharePoint file library or Planner tasks. All data in Teams (messages, calls, files) is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access is managed via Entra ID accounts, ensuring security and compliance for corporate conversations.

Unlimited chat
Teams provides unlimited chat messages and search for all users​ so there are no limits on chat history retention by the service (aside from admin-imposed retention policies). This means team members can continuously message each other or groups without worrying about hitting a storage cap – a key advantage for business knowledge management, as all decisions and discussions remain recorded and searchable. Users can easily find past conversations or shared files via the search bar, improving information retrieval. Because chats are persistent, new team members can scroll back to see context from before they joined. All chat content resides in the organization’s cloud (within Exchange/SharePoint for compliance), where it’s protected by Microsoft’s security (including encryption and optional retention or deletion rules set by admins).

Online meetings
Teams supports online meetings with audio, video, and screen sharing for up to 300 attendees in Business Basic​. Employees can schedule virtual meetings through Outlook or Teams and invite internal or external participants with a join link. These meetings enable distributed teams or clients to connect face-to-face via HD video and to collaborate in real time (using features like screen sharing, PowerPoint Live presentations, and collaborative whiteboards). For businesses, this facilitates remote work, client demos, and webinars without requiring separate conferencing software. Meetings include useful capabilities such as lobby and presenter controls, meeting chat, and live captions. All meeting data (video streams, chat, shared files) is handled securely; meetings are encrypted and can be restricted with lobby/admission controls or meeting passwords. Business Basic users can join from any device (PC, Mac, web, or the Teams mobile app), ensuring flexibility and accessibility.

Webinars
Teams webinars extend standard meeting functionality with tools for hosting more structured online events (like customer presentations, workshops, or marketing events). With Business Basic, users can host webinars for up to 300 attendees with registration pages and attendee reporting​. This feature allows businesses to send out custom registration forms to invitees, manage attendee lists, and even integrate interactive elements (polls, Q&A). During the webinar, presenters can use Teams’ rich presentation modes (e.g. together mode, spotlighting speakers) and attendees can join via a simple link (no special webinar software needed). After the session, organizers can download attendee engagement reports (useful for sales follow-ups or training certifications). Security-wise, webinar invites can enforce attendee authentication or use the lobby to screen guests, and all communication is encrypted. The ability to run webinars without additional licensing is a cost-saver for small businesses aiming to engage larger audiences or clients online.

Screen sharing and custom backgrounds
Teams meetings and calls include built-in screen sharing and background effects to enhance virtual collaboration. Screen sharing allows a user to present their entire screen or a specific app/window to meeting participants – great for walking through a proposal, demoing software, or collaborating on a document. Teams supports sharing system audio and even PowerPoint presentations directly with special viewing controls. This drives business efficiency by making remote presentations as effective as in-person ones. Meanwhile, custom backgrounds let users replace or blur their real-life background during video calls. This feature adds professionalism and privacy – e.g. an employee on a call from home can use a branded company background or blur to avoid distractions. It helps remote team members feel more comfortable on camera, which can lead to more engaging meetings. Both features are easy to use and available on desktop and mobile. Importantly, screen sharing respects security: presenters choose what to share (preventing accidental exposure of sensitive info), and the whole sharing session is encrypted. Background effects run locally on the client, not sending your video through third-party filters, so they maintain user privacy. Teams’ platform fully supports these collaboration features on Business Basic (screen sharing is enabled by default for all meeting participants)​

Record meetings
Users can record Teams meetings to capture audio, video, and shared content for later reference. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes the ability to record and play back meetings (a feature not available in the free or personal Teams editions)​. With one click, a meeting organizer or presenter can start a cloud recording; all participants are notified and the recording is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint after the meeting. This is immensely useful for businesses to preserve important discussions (such as client calls, training sessions, or project meetings) – team members who missed the meeting can watch the recording, and everyone can review decisions or training content at their convenience. The recording feature also optionally produces an automatic transcript for accessibility. Security: only people invited to the meeting (or those granted access by the organizer) can view the recording, which is stored in the company’s OneDrive/SharePoint with all the usual access controls and retention policies. Admins can control who is allowed to record and for which types of meetings (through Teams policies), ensuring compliance (for example, disabling recording for confidential meetings if needed). Overall, recorded meetings improve knowledge retention and accountability, while Microsoft’s cloud storage ensures these large video files are handled safely and without consuming local device space.

Avatars for Teams
Enables the use of personalized 3D avatars in Teams meetings as an alternative to being on camera. Microsoft has expanded Avatars for Teams support to Business Basic users​ allowing employees to represent themselves with a customizable avatar when they prefer not to turn on their webcam. In practice, an employee can design their avatar’s appearance, and during a meeting the avatar will lip-sync and gesture based on the user’s audio – providing a visual presence without broadcasting video. This feature supports inclusivity and comfort in meetings: employees can still “show up” with an identity even on days they’re not camera-ready or to reduce video fatigue in back-to-back calls. It can also save bandwidth compared to full video. Business Basic including avatars means even small organizations get this cutting-edge experience to lighten meeting mood and keep participants engaged (avatars can convey reactions and emotions). From a security perspective, avatars run within the Teams app and use the user’s existing account – there’s no additional data exposure, and the avatar feature adheres to the same compliance standards (no biometric data, just user-provided customization). Ultimately, avatars improve usability by giving users more choice in how they attend meetings, which can lead to more consistent participation.

Priority notifications
Teams allows marking a chat message as “Urgent” (using priority notifications) to grab the recipient’s attention for time-sensitive issues. When a message is sent with priority, Teams will notify the recipient every 2 minutes for 20 minutes or until they read it​. This feature is crucial for business scenarios such as incident response or urgent approvals – for example, an IT admin can urgently alert an on-call engineer about a system outage, or a healthcare team member can send a critical update that demands immediate reading. The repeated alerts help ensure the message isn’t missed among many others. Priority notifications can be enabled or disabled by admin policy (to prevent overuse). From a security and compliance angle, urgent messages are still just Teams messages – they are logged and auditable like any other chat and only reach intended recipients – but with an elevated notification scheme. This tool enhances business communication by differentiating the truly urgent conversations and improving response times when every minute counts.

Intranet and storage ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

SharePoint Plan 1
Business Basic includes SharePoint Online Plan 1, which provides an organization with a secure intranet and team site platform. SharePoint allows you to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications across your organization​. With it, teams can create websites (team sites and communication sites) to store documents, track projects, and publish internal news. Use cases include an intranet portal where HR posts company-wide announcements, a project team site where members collaborate on files and lists, or an employee community site to share best practices. Plan 1 offers ample storage (at least 1 TB plus 10 GB per user) for document management and supports essential features like version history, document co-authoring, and basic workflow integrations. This greatly enhances business productivity by ensuring everyone can find information and work on the latest documents in one place. SharePoint’s robust permission model means content can be shared with the right audiences (and even externally with guests, if allowed). Security is enterprise-grade: data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and administrators can enforce policies on sharing or apply retention labels to content. In short, SharePoint Plan 1 gives small businesses the foundation for a modern intranet – informing and engaging employees and connecting them to content and processes easily​ – all while maintaining control over data access.

1 TB OneDrive personal storage
Each user gets 1 terabyte of OneDrive for Business cloud storage for their personal work files​. This is private storage (with sharing capabilities) tied to the user’s account, perfect for storing documents, presentations, photos, and projects in the cloud instead of on a local PC. OneDrive lets employees access their files from anywhere, on any device – via web browser, mobile app, or synced to their desktop File Explorer. For example, a salesperson can upload a proposal from their office computer and later pull it up on their phone during a client visit. The service enhances usability with features like automatic save and version history (so users can restore previous versions of a file or recover deleted files from the recycle bin). For collaboration, users can share files or folders with teammates or external partners with fine-grained permissions (view or edit, specific people or anyone with a link, etc.), replacing the need to email large attachments. From a security standpoint, OneDrive in Business Basic is highly secure and compliant: data is encrypted, and administrators can manage sharing policies or even place retention holds on OneDrive content if needed. If a device is lost or an employee leaves, files remain in OneDrive (and can be accessed or transferred by admins). OneDrive’s integration with Office apps also means users can co-author documents simultaneously. Overall, this 1 TB cloud storage per user provides a flexible, reliable way to store and back up work files, supporting remote work and reducing dependence on on-premises file servers.

Content services ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Microsoft Graph API
A powerful API endpoint that gives programmatic access to the rich data and insights in your Microsoft 365 environment. With Business Basic, developers can use the Microsoft Graph API to build custom apps and workflows that connect to resources like users, mail, calendars, Teams, SharePoint, and more​. For instance, a business could develop a custom dashboard that pulls data on project tasks from Planner, upcoming meetings from users’ calendars, or documents from OneDrive – all via Graph. The Graph API aggregates all these services under a single, secure interface (https://graph.microsoft.com), simplifying development compared to dealing with separate product APIs. This enables business use cases such as automated user onboarding (creating user accounts and mailbox via script), integrating Microsoft 365 data with a CRM or intranet, or analytics applications that analyze usage patterns. Since Graph is an authenticated API, it uses Entra ID (Azure AD) for permission scopes – meaning only authorized access to data is allowed and it adheres to the organization’s security policies. All data interactions via Graph are subject to the same compliance and auditing as if a user performed them manually. In summary, Microsoft Graph API support in Business Basic gives organizations the ability to extend and tailor their Microsoft 365 to their needs, boosting productivity through automation and integration while leveraging Microsoft’s secure framework for data access.

Microsoft Search
An intelligent enterprise search experience integrated across Microsoft 365 apps and services. Microsoft Search allows users to quickly find information they need – whether it’s documents in SharePoint/OneDrive, conversations in Teams or Outlook, people in the directory, or internal web pages. In Business Basic, Microsoft Search is fully available (it’s included in all Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans)​. This means when an employee uses the search box in Office.com, SharePoint, or even Windows/Bing (when signed in with work account), they get personalized results from within the organization. For example, typing a colleague’s name might show their contact info and org chart, or searching “budget Q4” could surface a spreadsheet on SharePoint and an email thread from Outlook about the Q4 budget. The search results are security-trimmed, meaning a user only sees content they have permission to access, which protects sensitive data (e.g. private HR files won’t appear for an unrelated employee). Microsoft Search increases usability by bringing unified search to every context – users don’t need to remember where something is saved, they can just search and the service intelligently finds the best matches (using AI to rank relevance). It’s a key business tool for knowledge discovery and productivity, helping avoid duplicate work and quickly answering queries. Additionally, admins can customize search with bookmarks, Q&A, or custom verticals, and all queries are processed securely within the Microsoft 365 compliance boundary (with auditing available for search activities).

Microsoft Lists
A productivity app for tracking information and coordinating work, included with SharePoint in Business Basic. Microsoft Lists lets teams create highly customizable lists – essentially smart spreadsheets or simple databases – for common business scenarios like issue tracking, asset management, event itineraries, CRM leads, onboarding checklists, and more. Lists are simple, smart, and flexible: users can start from templates (e.g. for project planning or travel requests) and then tailor columns, formatting, and rules to fit their needs​. Multiple team members can add or update list items simultaneously through SharePoint or the Lists app (including the Lists mobile app), and everyone always sees the latest information. For example, an IT team could use a list to track support tickets, with columns for status, priority, and assignee, and color-coding to highlight urgent items. Because Lists is built on SharePoint, it benefits from enterprise features: list data is stored securely in SharePoint (and can be linked to Microsoft Teams for ease of access), supports version history and item-level permissions, and can trigger Power Automate flows (for notifications or approvals). It also integrates with Outlook and Teams – you can mention (@) users in list comments, or view/edit lists directly within a Teams tab. The combination of ease-of-use with templates, plus the ability to enforce data types and set up alerts or reminders, makes Microsoft Lists a powerful tool to improve team coordination and information management. It allows businesses to move away from scattered spreadsheets to a more centralized, accessible, and secure way of tracking data.

Microsoft Forms
A lightweight online survey and form creation tool that enables users to gather information via questionnaires, quizzes, polls, and registrations. With Business Basic, employees can quickly build custom forms and invite others (both within or outside the organization) to respond from any web browser or mobile device​. This has many business use cases: collecting customer feedback, running employee satisfaction surveys, quiz assessments for training, event registration forms, or simple polls during meetings. Forms is very user-friendly – no coding required – one can add choice, text, rating, or date questions, etc., and the form is immediately sharable via link or email. Responses are tracked in real time, and Forms provides built-in analytics with charts for each question, helping you interpret results easily​. For example, if HR sends out an employee survey, they can quickly see a summary of responses and even export data to Excel for deeper analysis. Because Forms is part of Microsoft 365, response data is kept secure: it’s stored in Microsoft datacenters and tied to the form creator’s account. Only designated persons can view the collected data, and you can set forms to only accept responses from your organization (to avoid external spam) or to record respondent names automatically for internal quizzes. Microsoft Forms enhances usability by integrating with Teams (you can create a poll in a Teams chat/meeting) and with Power Automate (e.g., automatically send an email or create a work item when someone submits a form). Overall, it’s a handy tool for fast data collection and feedback, improving how businesses listen to employees and customers while ensuring the data stays private and under control.

Delve
A personalized information discovery and content management tool powered by the Office Graph. Delve helps users in a business find relevant content and insights by surfacing documents and information “discoverable” based on the people and work they’re involved with​. For instance, Delve’s home page will show cards of documents that your frequent collaborators are working on (provided you have permission to see them), or highlight an upcoming meeting and related files that might be useful for it. It essentially tailors Microsoft 365 to each user – breaking down silos between Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc., and showing content across these services that matters most to that person. A typical business use case: a new team member opens Delve and quickly sees important PowerPoints and Word docs that her team has been editing recently, helping her get up to speed without chasing links. Delve also serves as a profile directory: each user has a profile page with their photo, contact info, org chart, and recent documents (again, only showing docs you’re allowed to see). This can foster knowledge sharing and make it easy to connect with colleagues or find experts (“Who in our company has worked on Project X document?”). Importantly, Delve enforces security – it never changes any permissions, so if you cannot see a file normally, it won’t magically appear in Delve. It’s simply an intelligent lens over content you already have access to. Business Basic users have full access to Delve, leveraging the Office Graph machine learning to work smarter. By connecting people to content and to each other, Delve can boost collaboration and break down the “knowledge gap” in organizations, all while respecting privacy and permissions.

Project and task management ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Microsoft Planner
A simple yet effective kanban-style task management application for team collaboration. Planner is included in Business Basic and lets teams organize work visually through boards, buckets, and cards​. Users can create a plan (for example, for a project or department), add task cards with due dates, owners, checklists, and attachments, and move tasks through stages (buckets) like To Do, In Progress, Done. It’s great for tracking projects, marketing campaigns, sprint backlogs, or any group tasks in a lightweight way. Each member of the plan can see all tasks and their status, fostering transparency – e.g., a manager can quickly see which tasks are overdue or who is overloaded. Planner sends email or Teams notifications for task assignments and due dates, keeping everyone on schedule. The business benefit is improved coordination: responsibilities are clear and nothing falls through the cracks. Because Planner is part of Microsoft 365, it integrates with Teams (you can add a Planner board as a tab in a Teams channel) and with To Do/Outlook (Planner tasks assigned to you also show up in your Microsoft To Do and Outlook Tasks). Files can be attached to tasks (stored in SharePoint), and team members can comment on tasks (comments are stored in the associated Microsoft 365 Group mailbox). From a security perspective, Planner is tied to Microsoft 365 Groups, so only members of the group (team) can see the plan and tasks, and all data is within the secure M365 environment. It’s a user-friendly way to implement project management without needing a full Project Online license – ideal for small to medium team projects and daily task tracking.

Microsoft To-Do
A personal task management app that helps individual users organize their work and life tasks in one place. To-Do (integrated with Business Basic) allows users to plan their day and manage tasks across work and personal contexts, on any device​. Key features include the My Day list – a daily planner where you can cherry-pick tasks to focus on each day – and the ability to create multiple custom lists (e.g., “Quarterly Reporting Tasks” or “HR Follow-ups”). Users can set due dates, reminders, and notes on tasks, and tasks roll over if not completed. For business use, To-Do helps employees keep track of their individual responsibilities, which is essential in busy environments. It also syncs with Outlook tasks: flagged emails in Outlook or tasks assigned in Planner appear in To-Do’s Assigned to Me or Flagged Email sections, consolidating all actionable items in one view. This improves personal productivity, as an employee can trust they have a single, cloud-synced to-do list rather than sticky notes or disparate reminders. Microsoft To-Do is available on Windows, Mac, web, iOS, and Android, so you can review and add tasks from anywhere (add a task on mobile and it appears on your PC app, etc.). Data is stored in Exchange Online (as it’s the successor to Outlook Tasks), meaning tasks benefit from Exchange’s security and compliance (e.g., tasks are included in mailbox backup and eDiscovery). The app also features smart suggestions – it might suggest outstanding tasks for your day – and list sharing for lightweight collaboration (you can share a grocery list or a team checklist with others, who also have Business Basic or even personal Microsoft accounts). Overall, To-Do complements Planner by handling personal task tracking, ensuring each staff member stays on top of their deliverables and deadlines, which in turn supports team productivity.

Analytics and Insights ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Productivity Score
An organizational analytics feature that provides IT and business leaders with insights into how the company is using Microsoft 365 and where they could improve productivity. Productivity Score analyzes how your organization works across categories like content collaboration, mobility, communication, meetings, and more, and generates a score with recommendations​. For example, it can show the percentage of employees co-authoring documents versus working separately, or how often people access files from the cloud rather than sending attachments – and then suggest best practices or trainings to boost effective usage. This is very useful for a business to identify adoption gaps (e.g., if Teams is underutilized for meetings or if many users still email files instead of sharing links) and to track the impact of improvement initiatives over time. Productivity Score is included in Business Basic and accessible via the Microsoft 365 admin center. It provides visibility into workplace experience metrics without exposing private data – insights are aggregated and anonymized (Productivity Score is about patterns, not individual user specifics, addressing privacy concerns). Security-wise, only authorized admins or report readers can view the score dashboard, and it doesn’t include content of files or emails, just metadata and usage statistics. By following Productivity Score’s recommendations (like enabling certain features or user training on collaboration tools), businesses can improve workflow efficiency and employee experience, making the most of their Microsoft 365 investment. Essentially, it’s like a “fitness tracker” for your organization’s digital work habits, helping IT drive change with data-driven decisions​.

Secure Score
A security analytics tool that measures an organization’s security posture in Microsoft 365 and recommends improvements. Microsoft Secure Score assigns points based on the extent to which your organization has adopted recommended security features and practices – a higher score means you’ve implemented more of the recommended controls​. For example, points are awarded for actions like requiring MFA for users, banning legacy authentication, enabling mailbox auditing, or protecting documents with labels. In Business Basic, admins can view their Secure Score in the Microsoft 365 security center. The dashboard shows the current score, the maximum attainable score, and a list of improvement actions with their impact. This helps a business prioritize next steps to harden security (e.g., “Turn on auto-forwarding blocking” might be an action worth 20 points). Secure Score is very actionable: each recommendation includes guidance or one-click enablement if possible. It supports business security by making the complex task of risk reduction more gamified and trackable – over time, IT teams can demonstrate progress (e.g., raising the score from 30% to 60% by applying best practices)​. It also educates IT admins on what security features are available in their subscription (many are available even in Business Basic, like Office 365 ATP might not be included but basic anti-phishing is, etc.). Secure Score doesn’t guarantee breach prevention but it correlates to a stronger defense. All underlying data (which settings are enabled, etc.) is only accessible to admins, and the tool itself is read-only (it gives suggestions, it doesn’t change settings automatically without admin input). It’s a valuable guide to systematically improve security configuration, ensuring the business leverages all available protections in Microsoft 365.

Compliance Management
Microsoft 365 Business Basic provides entry-level tools for managing data compliance and regulatory requirements via the Microsoft Purview compliance portal. This includes features like Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager, which offers an end-to-end compliance management workflow – assessing your compliance posture, suggesting improvement actions, and tracking progress​. In practice, Compliance Manager comes with pre-built assessments for common standards (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001) that show which controls Microsoft has in place and which controls you (the customer) need to implement. It’s a dashboard where IT or compliance officers can see, for example, that enabling a certain retention policy or configuring DLP would improve the score against a regulation. Additionally, Business Basic allows use of core compliance features such as retention policies for data (to keep or delete information per law or policy), data loss prevention for basic scenarios (though advanced DLP might need higher licenses), eDiscovery (Standard) for legal investigations, and audit logging – all of which contribute to an organization’s compliance strategy. These capabilities help businesses operate confidently within legal requirements by safeguarding sensitive data and providing oversight tools​. For instance, an admin can set a Teams chat retention policy to delete messages after 1 year to meet internal data management rules, or use Compliance Manager to assign tasks like “Review access logs monthly” to team members and record when done. All compliance features are built with security and privacy in mind: only authorized roles can access the compliance center, and Microsoft never accesses customer data for compliance – it only provides the framework for the business to use. In summary, Compliance Management in Business Basic enhances governance over data, helping small businesses meet their obligations without needing separate compliance software.

Viva Insights ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Viva Insights app in Teams
The Viva Insights personal app is available directly within Microsoft Teams for Business Basic users, providing a convenient hub for all the personal productivity and wellbeing features. Users can open the Viva Insights app in Teams to get a dashboard of their work habits: for example, it might show how many focus hours they’ve had this week, suggest tasks to schedule, and allow them to start a mindfulness break or send praise to a colleague. Having this in Teams (where employees are already spending time communicating) means these insights are in the flow of work – it can gently nudge users at the start of their day or after meetings. The Viva Insights app also includes a virtual commute feature to wrap up the workday by reviewing pending tasks and transitioning to after-work mode. Managers with Business Basic can also use the Viva Insights app for personal insights into their team habits (if they have at least a few direct reports to preserve privacy) – for example, “no meeting days” effectiveness or after-hours workload for their team, along with suggested actions to improve team culture​. It’s critical to note that the app’s data is personal or aggregated – it does not show managers private info about individuals. For IT, enabling the Viva Insights app is just a matter of policy (it’s on by default for most). Security and privacy are integral: the app works within Teams under the user’s authenticated context, and it only pulls data the user is allowed to see (mostly their own or aggregate). By using the Teams app, employees are more likely to engage with the tips (since it might pop up, say, “You’re usually sending late emails – try to disconnect tonight”). This drives a more mindful, efficient workforce. All in all, the Viva Insights Teams app makes it easier for staff to act on productivity recommendations, improving adoption of healthy work habits which benefits both the individual and the organization (e.g., fewer burnout-related issues, more focus time for deep work).

Personal insights and experiences
Microsoft 365 Business Basic focuses on personal insights (from Viva Insights/MyAnalytics) that enhance individual work experiences without intruding on privacy. These include the daily Briefing emails from Cortana that summarize your day’s meetings and tasks, weekly or monthly digest emails with productivity trends, and inline suggestions in Outlook (for instance, when Outlook detects you might need to schedule focus time or suggests following up on a commitment). Such experiences help users be proactive and organized – e.g., a Briefing email might remind an employee about a document they need to finish for a meeting later in the day, or suggest: “You have 3 hours of meetings today; consider blocking an hour for focused work this week.” Over time, these nudges promote effective time management. Additionally, personal experiences include things like Praise in Teams (publicly recognizing colleagues, boosting morale) and Reflection (privately tracking your mood). All these are completely private to the user or shared voluntarily. For example, a user’s “time spent on after-hours work” metric might be shown only to them, but not to their manager (managers see aggregate data only if enabled via a premium add-on). This privacy-by-design approach encourages trust – employees know the insights are to help them personally, not to monitor them​. The result is employees feeling empowered to improve their work patterns (like unplugging after hours or spending more time on deep work) in a self-directed way. For the company, when individuals use these personal insights, it can lead to a healthier, more engaged workforce – people take proper breaks, manage email overload, and ultimately can be more productive during work hours. Business Basic includes these core “personal insights” experiences out-of-the-box, giving even small organizations benefits that were once limited to big enterprises with specialized HR analytics, all while keeping the experience user-centric and data confidential​

Viva Connections ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Dashboard, Feed, Resources, and Teams app
Viva Connections comprises several key components that together create an integrated employee experience: a Dashboard, a Feed, a Resources tab, all delivered via a Teams app. The Dashboard is a collection of interactive cards providing quick access to frequent actions or information – for example, cards might show an Approval waiting for you, your remaining vacation days, or a form to submit expenses. These cards let employees complete tasks or get info without switching context (e.g., mark an approval as done right within Teams)​. This boosts business efficiency by streamlining common workflows and making them accessible in one click. The Feed in Viva Connections aggregates personalized content from across the organization – it pulls in company news posts, announcements, and Yammer conversations tailored to each user based on their role, team, and communities they follow​. This keeps employees informed with relevant updates (for instance, a sales rep sees the latest product updates and a conversation from the Sales Yammer group, whereas an engineer’s feed shows engineering tech talks and team news). Importantly, the feed only shows content the user has permission to see, maintaining confidentiality​. Resources is essentially a menu (often a SharePoint global navigation or curated links) that provides easy access to top tools and sites – for example, links to the PTO request site, IT support page, compliance training portal, etc., which are consistently accessible in the Connections app. And all of this is surfaced through the Viva Connections Teams app – available on desktop and mobile – meaning employees can reach the dashboard, feed, and resources directly from Teams (often via a single click on the Connections icon). The result is a unified experience where employees don’t need to go hunting through bookmarks or separate intranet sites; everything is organized in one place, improving usability and engagement. For the business, this means critical communications are more likely to be seen (the feed brings them front and center), and tools are more readily used (the dashboard and resource links reduce friction). Setting up these components is done by corporate communications or IT via SharePoint Home site and dashboard configuration – all content stays within Microsoft 365, so it’s secure and compliant. In essence, Dashboard, Feed, Resources work in harmony to deliver the right information at the right time to employees, while the Teams app makes the experience accessible and familiar, driving a connected and informed workforce​.

Automation, app building, and chatbots ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )
( Refer to the licensing FAQs and Licensing Guide for details including functionality limits.)

Power Apps for Microsoft 365
Business Basic includes the ability for users to create custom business applications using Power Apps (with standard connectors and Dataverse for Teams). Power Apps is a low-code platform that lets you build and share apps through a visual designer, using Excel-like expressions for logic​. With this inclusion, a small business can solve process gaps by creating their own apps without purchasing expensive custom software – for example, an inventory check-in app for a storeroom accessible on mobile, or a visitor log app for the front desk. These apps can connect to data sources like SharePoint lists, Excel, or Dataverse for Teams, and use standard connectors (e.g., to Outlook, Planner, etc.) that come with the Microsoft 365 license. The focus is on quickly building apps that work on any device (Power Apps will generate both a web and mobile interface). Sharing an app is as easy as assigning permissions via email – coworkers can then use the app via the Power Apps mobile app or in a browser. Power Apps for M365 is great for streamlining everyday tasks: imagine an HR onboarding checklist app or a budget tracker that multiple people input to. All of this is done in a secure environment – app makers can only access data they have rights to, and when the app runs, it respects each user’s permissions. Moreover, IT administrators can govern Power Apps with policies (e.g., prevent connectors to unauthorized services via Data Loss Prevention policies). Business Basic’s inclusion of Power Apps encourages citizen development, empowering those who know the business best (the employees) to create solutions, thus increasing agility. While it doesn’t include premium connectors (like SQL or Salesforce) or the full Dataverse capacity (those require add-ons), it covers a wide range of common scenarios using M365 data sources. In short, Power Apps in Business Basic enables customized productivity tools tailor-made for your organization, all inside the Microsoft security/compliance framework and without the need for professional developers​.

Power Automate for Microsoft 365
Also known as Power Automate “seeded” plan, this allows Business Basic users to automate workflows across their apps and services. Power Automate lets you create flows using a drag-and-drop interface or templates – for example, automating notifications, file synchronization, or data collection between apps​. With Business Basic, users can use standard connectors (to Microsoft 365 services and many third-party services) to build automations. Common use cases in a business include: automatically send an email or Teams message when a new file is added to a SharePoint library, move data captured from Microsoft Forms into an Excel/SharePoint list, or get an alert on your phone when a high-priority email arrives. Another example: a sales team could have a flow that takes every form submission from the website (through Forms or a connected service) and creates a lead in a SharePoint list, then notifies the sales manager on Teams – all hands-free. These automations save time and reduce errors by removing repetitive manual steps. The included Power Automate features also support approvals (e.g., an employee submits a vacation request via Forms, a flow sends it for manager approval, and notifies the employee of the decision). For each user, there are limits (such as number of runs per month), but they are generally sufficient for light to moderate usage. Power Automate flows run in Microsoft’s cloud and respect security: they use the creator’s credentials to access data (so if a person leaves and their account is disabled, the flow’s access to data is also cut off). Admins can monitor flow usage and enforce Data Loss Prevention policies to ensure flows don’t mishandle information (for instance, preventing a flow that posts company data to a social media service). By integrating Power Automate, Business Basic greatly improves usability and efficiency – employees can eliminate tedious copy-paste tasks and ensure processes happen consistently. The templates gallery and examples make it easy for non-IT staff to get started (like template “Save Gmail attachments to OneDrive” or “Remind me in 10 minutes if I have an unread Teams message”), accelerating automation adoption and innovation within the business​

Copilot Studio for Teams
A new capability (recently introduced) that allows organizations to build and deploy their own AI-driven conversational assistants or “copilots” within Teams. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes usage rights for Microsoft Copilot Studio in Teams, which means users can access the Copilot Studio app to create custom chatbots/AI agents that live in Teams channels or chats​. Essentially, Copilot Studio for Teams is an evolution of Power Virtual Agents in Teams (low-code bot building) enhanced with generative AI capabilities (within allowed limits). For example, a business could create a “Helpdesk Copilot” in Teams that employees can chat with to get IT support answers or a “Sales Q&A bot” that provides product info from a knowledge base. Copilot Studio provides a guided interface to design the bot’s topics, questions, and connect it to relevant data sources, all without writing code. Developers and power users can create and integrate chatbots across Teams, SharePoint, or Outlook to handle common inquiries or tasks​. This can drastically improve response times and offload routine work – e.g., instead of HR manually answering the same PTO policy questions, a Copilot can answer them instantly at any hour. Business Basic users can build these bots and publish them to their team or org (within the limits of the free plan: for instance, Copilot Studio is included but heavy use of OpenAI’s GPT might require message packs or an upgraded license for high volume). The benefit is democratizing AI development – small companies can tailor AI bots to their needs with minimal investment. From a security perspective, Copilot Studio bots operate within Teams, using the data they’re given access to. They can be connected to internal data (like SharePoint FAQs) securely – they won’t expose anything beyond what the creators configure. Moreover, admins can manage who can create bots and monitor their usage. Including Copilot Studio in Business Basic means even entry-level subscribers can begin experimenting with AI in the workplace, creating intelligent chatbots that increase productivity (by answering questions or automating conversational workflows) and enhance usability (users get help through natural language) – all integrated in the safe, compliant Teams environment.

Dataverse for Teams
A built-in low-code data platform for Teams that provides relational data storage and one-click solutions for building apps, chatbots, and workflows inside Microsoft Teams. Business Basic includes the entitlement to use Dataverse for Teams, meaning when you build a Power App or chatbot within a Teams team, you get a dedicated lightweight database (Dataverse for Teams) to store app data – at no extra cost. Dataverse for Teams empowers users to build custom apps, bots, and flows in Teams without needing a full Dataverse license​. For instance, a company can create a maintenance request app in their “Facilities” Teams channel; behind the scenes Dataverse for Teams will store requests in a structured table (with up to ~2 GB of storage per team). This data platform supports rich data types, relationships, and a subset of Dataverse capabilities – offering more sophisticated data handling than just an Excel or SharePoint list. It also comes with templates like Employee Ideas or Inspections that one can install in a team to jump-start app development. The business use cases are vast: team-level apps that require a database – e.g., a mini CRM for a sales team, an incident tracker for a security team, or an onboarding checklist app for HR – all can use Dataverse for Teams to hold data and ensure the app is responsive and scalable. Because it runs within Teams, users access the apps right there, and the authentication is automatic (based on Team membership and set security roles). On security: Dataverse for Teams leverages the Teams security model – only members of the Team can use the app and data unless additional sharing is configured. Data is stored in the Microsoft cloud and is compliant with the same standards as full Dataverse. There are role-based access controls even within the team’s data (owners, members can have different permissions on the tables). Also, since it’s part of Power Platform, admins can monitor and govern these apps. In essence, Dataverse for Teams included with Business Basic allows small businesses to have database-backed apps and bots without any additional licensing cost, striking a sweet spot between simple lists and the full Dataverse. It improves what users can build (more complex scenarios become feasible) while keeping it easy – all integrated in Teams for a seamless user experience.

Endpoint and app management ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Mobile Device Management
Business Basic includes Microsoft’s Basic Mobility and Security features, which provide core mobile device management capabilities for the organization. This allows IT admins to secure and manage users’ mobile devices (phones and tablets) that connect to company data​. Through the Microsoft 365 admin center, an admin can require enrolling devices for management – once enrolled, they can enforce security policies such as requiring a PIN/password on the device, encryption, and even setting conditional access so only compliant devices can access Exchange email or SharePoint data. If a device is lost or stolen, the admin can remotely wipe corporate data from it (either a full device wipe for corporate-owned devices or a selective wipe of just company data for BYOD). Basic MDM also lets you set rules like blocking jailbroken or rooted devices, and get reports on device compliance. For small businesses, this is crucial: employees often access email and files on personal devices, and MDM ensures that at least a baseline of security (e.g., not allowing access if the device doesn’t have a lock screen) is maintained. All Microsoft 365 Business plans have this built-in MDM feature, so you don’t need a separate Intune license for basic needs. While it’s not as advanced as full Intune (which offers deeper PC management and app management), it covers essentials like device configuration and wipe, which helps protect company information. Setup is straightforward – admins activate the service, configure a handful of policies (like “require devices to have PIN of at least 6 digits and not be jailbroken”), and users will be guided to enroll when they sign into email on their phone. From a usability standpoint, it runs largely in the background after enrollment, not intruding on the user’s personal apps but creating a layer that oversees corporate data access. In summary, Business Basic’s MDM offers peace of mind that mobile access is managed: it mitigates risks of data leakage from lost devices and ensures some uniform security controls on all endpoints. It’s an important part of a business’s security posture for remote work and BYOD, enforcing device-level protections and allowing quick action if a device is compromised​

Identity and access management ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Microsoft Entra ID Free
Formerly known as Azure Active Directory Free, this is the cloud identity and access management service that underpins Microsoft 365. With Business Basic, you get Entra ID Free edition, which provides core directory services for user and group management, single sign-on, and basic security features. Entra ID (Azure AD) Free allows you to create and manage user accounts in the cloud, synchronize with on-premises AD if you have one (via Azure AD Connect), and handle authentication for all Microsoft 365 services. For example, an admin can add or remove employees in the Microsoft 365 admin portal, set group memberships, and those credentials will control access to email, Teams, OneDrive, etc. One big benefit is Single Sign-On (SSO): users sign in once with their Microsoft 365 work account and gain access to all the M365 apps without separate logins​. Additionally, the free tier allows integration with a limited number of third-party SaaS applications for SSO (up to 10 apps per user as per Azure AD Free limits) – so a business could connect apps like Dropbox or Salesforce for unified login experience. Security features in Entra ID Free include basic multifactor authentication capabilities – specifically, you can enable Security Defaults which require all users to register for MFA (using the Microsoft Authenticator app or phone) and perform MFA challenges in certain conditions. This significantly hardens security by making stolen passwords alone insufficient to breach an account. The free tier also supports fundamental things like password policy, self-service password reset for cloud users (for admins only in free, or for all users if enabled via workaround), and device registration. While advanced features like conditional access or Identity Protection require premium licenses, the Free edition still covers the essentials of identity: a central place to manage who has access to what, group-based access management, and a single identity for each employee across all services. It also provides reports/logs on sign-in activity and basic alerting on things like risky sign-in attempts (though detailed risk detection is premium). Microsoft Entra ID Free thus ensures even small organizations using Business Basic have an enterprise-grade directory: it’s scalable, globally distributed for reliability, and integrates with on-prem AD if needed, enabling hybrid identity. By having this, businesses can enforce standard sign-in policies, easily add or remove access when employees join or leave (critical for security), and enjoy the convenience of SSO, all without extra cost.

Single sign-on (SSO)
Single sign-on is a key benefit of Microsoft 365’s identity platform (Entra ID/Azure AD) and is fully available in Business Basic. SSO means employees use one set of credentials to access multiple applications, and after one successful sign-in, they can launch other integrated apps without being prompted again. In practice, when a user signs into Office.com or their Windows 10/11 device with their work account, that token seamlessly signs them into Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, the Microsoft 365 web apps, and so on. This greatly improves usability: users don’t have to remember separate passwords for each service, and they experience fewer login interruptions during their day. For businesses, SSO reduces password fatigue (and thus weak password choices) and lowers helpdesk load because there are fewer credentials to manage per user. Beyond Microsoft’s own apps, Business Basic’s Entra ID can provide SSO to many popular business cloud apps via SAML/OAuth connectors – for example, if you connect an HR system or a CRM to Azure AD, users can often log into those with the same Microsoft 365 account. This unified identity also enables features like the Office 365 app launcher (the waffle menu) which lets users switch between services (Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, etc.) with a click, carrying their identity with them. From a security standpoint, SSO centralizes authentication – making it easier to implement global security measures like MFA or sign-in monitoring. If an employee leaves the company, disabling their account in one place (Azure AD) cuts off access to all SSO-integrated apps, which is efficient for access offboarding. Business Basic supports integration with on-premises AD as well, so if a company has a local Domain Controller, they can set up hybrid SSO​ (users sign in with the same credentials on-prem and in cloud, potentially even getting a seamless pass-through authentication). Essentially, SSO in Business Basic improves both security and user experience: users authenticate once and trust Azure AD to handle the rest, and IT can enforce strong authentication centrally. It’s a fundamental part of modern identity management that even small businesses with Business Basic can leverage to simplify access to tools and reduce friction in daily work.

Data lifecycle management ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Teams message retention policies
Microsoft 365 Business Basic allows administrators to apply retention policies to Teams chats and channel messages, helping meet regulatory or organizational data management requirements. Historically, such retention was only in higher plans, but Microsoft announced that all paid Office 365/M365 plans (including Business Basic) now support Teams retention policies​. With this, an admin can define how long Teams messages are kept – for example, a policy to delete Teams chat messages after 1 year, or conversely, to retain Teams channel messages for 5 years for compliance. These policies are configured in the Microsoft Purview compliance center and can target all users or specific locations (users, teams, or org-wide). This feature is crucial for businesses in regulated sectors or those concerned with data bloat/privacy – it ensures that transient conversations don’t live forever unless needed. For instance, a financial services firm might be required to keep all communications for 7 years, so they set a retention policy accordingly, whereas a tech company might choose to auto-delete chats after 180 days to reduce risk. Once the retention period expires, Teams messages are purged from user view and the backend, or if a retention policy is set to only retain (not delete), it can prevent deletion for that period (useful for legal hold scenarios). The inclusion in Business Basic means small businesses have the same capability to manage their Teams data lifecycle as larger enterprises, which is important as chat has become a primary communication method. Implementing a retention policy can also improve performance by not storing indefinite amounts of chat data and can mitigate legal exposure by ensuring data isn’t kept longer than necessary. Technically, Teams messages are journaled to mailboxes in Exchange Online (hidden folders) for compliance, and retention policies act on that content – Business Basic’s 50 GB mailbox is sufficient for typical retention volumes (but very large orgs or very long retention might need more space or archive add-ons). With Teams retention, all deletions are executed in a secure, auditable way​. If a policy deletes content, it’s recorded in the audit log, and if content is subject to a legal hold it won’t be deleted despite the policy. This feature demonstrates Microsoft’s holistic approach to compliance across services, and Business Basic customers benefit by being able to control how chat data is preserved or disposed, aligning with their business policies and regulations.

eDiscovery and auditing ( Microsoft 365 Business Basic )

Content Search
An essential feature under the eDiscovery umbrella that allows administrators to swiftly search for information across all Microsoft 365 content locations. In Business Basic, admins can use the Content Search tool in the compliance center to query email, documents, Teams chats, and more for specific keywords, phrases, or other criteria (such as date ranges or sender/recipient). This is extremely useful for one-off investigations or data requests because it does not require setting up a full eDiscovery case; it’s more immediate. For example, if the company needs to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request or an internal query like “find all files containing Project X Budget,” the admin can run a content search to retrieve results. Business Basic indeed includes eDiscovery content search functionality​ – meaning even without advanced eDiscovery, you can search and preview results from Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint/OneDrive, and Teams. A practical business scenario: the CEO recalls an important email from last year about “Q3 forecast” but can’t find it – IT can run a content search for that term across her mailbox and Teams chats to assist. Or, legal might ask IT to search all communications with a particular client name over the past 6 months. Content Search will list all matching items, and if needed, admins can export the results (emails come out as PST or as individual messages, documents in original format, etc.). Another scenario is if a user is terminated, before deleting their account, admins might search and export their data for compliance archive. Using Content Search requires appropriate permissions (assigned via a Compliance Center role group). Security and privacy: content searches are audited and only those with permission can perform them – users are not notified when their data is searched, which is by design for investigations. The search respects the scope defined: you can target specific mailboxes or sites or search everywhere. It’s worth noting that content search also is how admins locate data to place on eDiscovery hold or to delete content via retention labels’ disposition reviews. In Business Basic, any data that exists can be searched (subject to the standard 90-day limit on audit for seeing events, but the content itself can span many years if it’s retained). The speed and breadth of Content Search greatly enhance a company’s ability to handle data-related inquiries efficiently, rather than manually combing through mailboxes one by one. It effectively acts as an internal search engine for all company data (with compliance guardrails) and is a cornerstone of Microsoft 365’s value in content management.

Audit (Standard)
Business Basic provides standard audit logging in Microsoft Purview, which keeps a record of a wide range of user and admin activities within the Microsoft 365 environment for 90 days. This feature is critical for security monitoring, compliance, and investigations. With Audit (Standard) enabled (it’s on by default for Microsoft 365), admins can query logs to answer questions like “Who accessed this file and when?”, “When was this mailbox exported or a mailbox rule created?”, “Which files did User X download from SharePoint?”, or “Who added a new admin yesterday?”. The audit log covers events from Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, Entra ID, and more. For example, every time a user logs into the tenant, sends a message in Teams, shares a document via OneDrive, or deletes a file in SharePoint, an audit entry is generated. Admin actions (creating users, changing roles, resetting passwords, etc.) are also logged. In a business scenario, if there’s a suspected data leak, the audit log can reveal if a user downloaded an unusual number of files or shared them externally. Or if content is missing, audit logs can show if it was deleted and by whom. The Audit (Standard) records can be searched via the compliance center by specifying criteria like activity type, user, date range, etc., and results can be exported to Excel for analysis. Although the default retention is 90 days (i.e., events older than 90 days drop off), admins can export and store logs offline for longer if needed. (Some organizations choose to periodically export logs or integrate with SIEM solutions for extended retention, but that’s more advanced.) The presence of audit logging in Business Basic significantly enhances transparency and control – it’s like having a CCTV system for your digital environment. From a compliance perspective, it helps demonstrate control and can be necessary for certain certifications or incident response plans. Importantly, Audit (Standard) has no additional cost and requires minimal setup. Only those in the Compliance or Global Admin roles can search the logs, ensuring confidentiality of the logs themselves. Additionally, if an organization upgrades in the future, the logs can be retained longer (with Audit (Premium) in higher SKUs offering up to 1 year by default). But even at 90 days, most day-to-day needs are met – e.g., detecting an issue within a couple of months, you’ll have the data. In summary, Audit (Standard) in Business Basic gives companies oversight of activities in their cloud, powering forensic investigations and compliance audits with detailed records. It’s a behind-the-scenes feature that vastly improves security posture by enabling administrators to verify and trace actions, thereby discouraging improper behavior and aiding in quick discovery of suspicious events.