Before you start

Microsoft 365 gives a business proper email on its own domain, shared calendars, file storage in OneDrive and SharePoint, Teams for chat and calls, and, on some plans, the desktop Office apps. Setting it up is not hard, but doing it in the right order saves a lot of tidying later.

Have these ready before you begin:

  • Your domain name (for example yourbusiness.co.uk) and the login for wherever it is registered, because you will need to add DNS records.
  • A list of the people who need an account, and any shared addresses such as info@ or accounts@.
  • Details of your current email, if you have one, so nothing is lost when you switch.
  • One person who will be the administrator. Use a separate admin account rather than someone's everyday mailbox.

Step 1: Choose the right plan

Most small businesses choose between three plans. Licence prices change, so check the current price before you buy, or ask RoamTech for a quote.

  • Business Basic: email, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint, with the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel and Outlook. Good for staff who work mainly in a browser or on a phone.
  • Business Standard: everything in Basic plus the desktop Office apps on up to five PCs or Macs per person.
  • Business Premium: everything in Standard plus stronger security, such as Conditional Access, device management with Intune and Defender for Business.

You can mix plans. A part-time bookkeeper might only need Basic while the office manager has Standard. Shared addresses such as info@ usually do not need a licence at all: see shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365.

Step 2: Create the account and add your domain

When you sign up, Microsoft gives you a starter address ending in onmicrosoft.com. Keep the admin login safe, then add your own domain:

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin centre at admin.microsoft.com.
  2. Go to Settings, then Domains, then Add domain, and type your domain.
  3. Microsoft shows a TXT record to prove you own it. Add it at your domain registrar or DNS host, then click Verify. This can take from a few minutes to a few hours.
  4. Choose to let Microsoft show you the DNS records for email, but do not change your MX record yet if you already have working email somewhere else.

If you are moving from another email provider, stop here and read moving your email to Microsoft 365 before you change any MX records. Changing them too early is the most common way businesses lose a day of email.

Step 3: Add your users and licences

  1. In the admin centre, go to Users, then Active users, then Add a user.
  2. Enter the person's name and choose their address on your domain, for example jane@yourbusiness.co.uk.
  3. Set a temporary password and tick the box that makes them change it when they first sign in.
  4. Assign the licence you bought for them.
  5. Repeat for each person. For more than a handful, Add multiple users lets you upload a spreadsheet.

Give admin rights only to the people who really need them. Everyone else should be a standard user. Then create shared mailboxes for addresses like info@ and accounts@ rather than buying a licence for each.

Step 4: Point your email at Microsoft 365

Once users exist, and any old email has been copied across, add the records Microsoft lists for your domain. For email these are normally:

  • An MX record, which tells the world to deliver your email to Microsoft.
  • A CNAME for autodiscover, so Outlook can find the mailbox settings by itself.
  • An SPF TXT record, which lists who is allowed to send email as your domain.

After that, switch on DKIM and add a DMARC record. These three records together are what stop your emails landing in spam and stop other people sending emails that pretend to be you. Our guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC walks through each one.

Step 5: Turn on multi-factor authentication

A stolen password is the most common way small business accounts get broken into. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) means a sign-in also needs a code or a tap on the person's phone.

New Microsoft 365 accounts usually come with security defaults switched on, which asks everyone to register for MFA. Check it is still on, and make sure every user has registered. Our guide to setting up MFA for your team covers this step by step.

Step 6: Set up devices and files

  1. On each PC or Mac, sign in at office.com and install the apps if the plan includes them.
  2. Add the account to Outlook. With autodiscover in place this only needs the email address and password.
  3. Sign in to OneDrive so Desktop and Documents back up to the cloud.
  4. Create a SharePoint site or a Team for shared company files, instead of emailing attachments back and forth.
  5. Add the account to phones with the Outlook, Teams and Authenticator apps.

Step 7: Do not forget backup

Microsoft keeps your data available, but its built-in retention is not the same as a backup you control. If a mailbox is deleted, a file is overwritten, or ransomware encrypts a synced folder, you want a separate copy you can restore from. A Microsoft 365 backup service covers email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. RoamTech includes Microsoft 365 backup in the Complete plan, and the add-on price is on the prices page.

A quick checklist

  • Domain added and verified.
  • Each person has their own account. No shared logins.
  • Shared mailboxes for info@, accounts@ and similar.
  • MX, autodiscover, SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place.
  • MFA registered for everyone, including the admin account.
  • Devices signed in, OneDrive syncing, apps installed.
  • Backup switched on and tested.

If you would rather not do this yourself, RoamTech sets up Microsoft 365 for small businesses anywhere in the UK, remotely, and on site in East Sussex. RoamTech is a Microsoft partner and Microsoft 365 reseller, so licences can be supplied as part of the job.