Quite often within business your IT requirements can be seen as a necessary evil – it’s essential to the operation, but it’s complicated & costly. Even more so when it comes down to Microsoft 365 licence costs. We all recognise that we need Microsoft licences to have business email accounts, access Microsoft software and most companies are now using the software as starting point to boost collaboration.  

But are you really maximising your investment? 

In our experience of working with partners they see Microsoft licences as a business cost. The team here at labdesk think differently – we see Microsoft 365 as an investment. 

There are hundreds of features & tools packed into the licences that can add true value to your business enabling innovation, increasing security, and boosting productivity. All of which help to build your business assets. 

Here are our top 7 features within Microsoft Business Premium you should maximise: 

Collaboration 

As mentioned above most partners are starting to already delve into the collaboration tools Microsoft 365 has to offer. Since the adoption of Microsoft Teams businesses have been empowered with being able to work collaboratively together not only on documents using the Microsoft 365 applications, but by using the thousands of tools that Microsoft Teams integrates with. 

Cloud Storage 

Working in tandem with Microsoft Teams is Microsoft SharePoint & One Drive. Allowing businesses to easily store data within the cloud and allowing the collaboration to take place. 

Each Microsoft 365 tenant includes 1TB of SharePoint storage + 10GB per licence purchased. In addition to this you get 1TB of One Drive storage per licence too. 

You can also benefit from secure file sharing and version control. 

Email Security 

The most common source of an attack is via email – be sure to make the most of the advanced email security features within Microsoft 365.  

Features such: 

• Safe attachments - real-time malware scanning 
• Safe links - detect & block malicious links  
• Spoof intelligence - live email spoof protection 
• Anti-phishing policies - protect against attacks 

• Mailbox intelligence - identifies email activity patterns  

Identity & Access Management 

Cloud technology has many benefits, one of which is the ability to work from anywhere. It’s vital to ensure you can control your users & access. Leveraging Azure Active Directory allows you to implement enhanced security controls for your end users.  

Features such as multi-factor authentication, conditional access and identity protection allow you to control access to your resources based on specific conditions being met. For example, requiring users to sign in with both a password & authentication application, restricting access to resources from set locations/devices etc… 

The security controls are both granular & flexible.  

Device Management 

Working hand-in-hand with Azure Active Directory is Microsoft Endpoint Manager. This technology brings together both Microsoft Intune & Configuration Manager to offer a unified approach to managing endpoints including PCs, mobile devices & servers. 

Central management of device policies, control of device applications, remote wipe and patch management are just some of the key features included. Whilst also giving you the ability to deploy software and configure devices remotely (zero touch deployment & Microsoft Autopilot). 

Endpoint Detection & Response 

Implement security policies for devices to ensure compliance and enforce security. Endpoint protection for Windows helps to safeguard against viruses, malware and other malicious threats.   

Advanced threat detection and response capabilities are also built in. Enabling you to identify and investigate security incidents as they happen in real-time.  

To go one further than this, you can also utilise Microsoft’s automated investigation and response capabilities to enhance the remediation process. All whilst providing you with detailed analytics and reporting on security threats & incidents. 

Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance Centre 

The compliance centre is a centralised security management platform that allows you to monitor security & compliance.  

One key feature which we love is Microsoft Secure Score – allowing you to self-evaluate and audit your organisations security posture. It also provides recommendations for enhancing your security. 

Compliance management allows you to take advantage of features such as data loss prevention, eDiscovery, data retention policies, audit logging and information governance. 

A key next step too maximise the potential of Microsoft 365 is understanding your licence options. Different licence plans offer varying levels of access to cloud services.  

Talk to us today for expert guidance on how you can get the most out of the Microsoft 365 cloud or click below to book a free discovery call: