Since its release, Microsoft Access database will not be available for all users of Office 365. Shocking isn’t it?

Users who have purchased an Office 365 Business Premium were surprised to discover that Access 2016 wasn’t included in their subscriptions.

Access 2016 is not included with any of the Office 365 Business subscriptions, even in Office 365 E1 or Office 365 Pro Plus enterprise subscriptions. If you want Microsoft Access Database 2016 in your enterprise, you should be opting instead for the full Office 365 E3 subscription.

What is more perplexing is the fact that Microsoft Access 2016 is included in a less expensive Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal subscriptions. So, why is Microsoft doing this?

Microsoft Access Database 2016 Is Not Included In Office 365

The answer to the question is simple. Perhaps the Microsoft corporation wants to generate more revenue by getting people to purchase it separately from the Microsoft Store for $109.99 (USD) per license (prices correct as of this post).

Businesses that have critical Microsoft Access databases and are dependent on Microsoft Access to run essential applications would have no other choice but to subscribe to this.

So to save yourself some money, you have to be wiser with your Office 365 subscription choices. For instance, if you have a smaller business that only has 5 employees, and you need Microsoft Access but you don’t need all of the cloud and collaboration tools, it is better if you opt for an Office 2016 Home instead of purchasing Office 365 Business Premium.

The Office 2016 Home subscription would cost you $100 per year and allows you to have Office 2016 apps, including Access 2016, running on 5 PCs. The Office 365 Business Premium subscription would cost you $150 per year/per person ($750) for Office apps, less Access 2016, which would cost you another $110 purchased separately. So that’s $100 per year for 5 users versus $860 per year for 5 users.

Obviously, the dropping of Access 2016 from Office 365 enterprise subscriptions is disappointing most especially for businesses who rely much on the application. They are making it harder for enterprise owners who need to pay an extra money for the application that is vital to their businesses.

Database applications are business applications that’s why itshould be included in all business and enterprise Office 365 subscriptions.

Over the years, Microsoft has been praised by its subscribers for it has brought a lot of undeniable innovations to the modern world. They have created a number of productivity applications for the mobile first, cloud first world. If they aim for getting more and more subscribers and continuously get good feedbacks, then they should take immediate steps to resolve the current situation.

Watch out for more on the new features of Microsoft Access database 2016.

Tags: Microsoft Access 2016, microsoft access database, MS Access Query, Using Microsoft Access vba