Vodafone updates SME tariffs with Office 365 option

Vodafone Business has announced a series of new tariffs for small businesses and sole traders, offering options such as a landline number that forwards to company mobiles, and Microsoft's Office 365 online productivity suite.

The firm said that the packages are designed to be as flexible as possible, explaining that customers can amend and alter the features they choose when they start their contracts as they grow over time.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of the country and for these customers our sole focus is to help them thrive and grow," said Vodafone UK small business sales director Tim Stone.

Plans for self-employed sole traders start at £25 per month, for which customers get 300 minutes of calls, 250 UK texts and up to 500MB of data.

However, the plan also includes 3,000 call minutes to other Vodafone numbers and 2GB of data access via the BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspot network every month.

For £10 per month extra, the One Net Express service offers a local landline number that customers can set up, and which automatically forwards calls to their mobile. This includes 3,000 call minutes and voicemail.

Plans for companies with two or more users start at £30 per month for the first 'lead' user, and £20 per month for each additional user, or 'sharer'.

These plans start at 500 UK minutes for two to three users, but customers can get more shared minutes for greater numbers of users by paying a higher lead user tariff of up to £370 per month for 10,000 minutes.

Customers also get 500 texts and 500MB data, plus the 3,000 inclusive call minutes to other Vodafone numbers and 2GB of Wi-Fi per month via BT Openzone.

Small companies also get the option to add the One Net Express service, but pricing starts at £20 for the lead user plus £2.50 per additional sharer.

Small businesses with two or more users can also add Microsoft Office 365 to their communications plan at £4 per user per month.

Office 365 provides email via a browser-based version of Outlook, an online SharePoint site for collaboration and shared documents, plus instant messaging, video calls and online meetings via a downloadable copy of Lync 2010.

All the plans are based on a 24-month contract and are available now.