While the past few years have challenged small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), there are signs of growth and opportunity. No matter what market forces are in play, companies of all sizes need to drive growth while managing costs. One way to strike this balance is by optimizing Microsoft 365 with Microsoft hosting.
Microsoft Advantages
Nearly 65 percent of SMBs prefer to purchase software solutions as a package, in a “suite of solutions” that meets all their business needs. Many of these organizations use Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams to streamline operations and reduce costs without sacrificing productivity.
Microsoft 365 brings these solutions together into one integrated experience that delivers on the power of the cloud and makes it easier for employees to work from anywhere while reducing costs and administration overhead. Microsoft 365 is a cost-effective, secure cloud solution that includes the tools small businesses require to run their growing businesses, reach new customers and collaborate with employees, partners and customers from virtually anywhere.
SMBs that choose Microsoft hosting or managed Microsoft 365 gain even more advantages, such as:
- Optimization of licenses.
- Direct access to expert, best-in-class support.
- Cost savings
- Automated system maintenance.
The Security Piece
Unfortunately, the last few years have seen an increase in cyberattacks targeted at SMBs. Microsoft 365 helps to safeguard devices and data from cyber threats with built-in security features such as access control and email protection. Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes additional advanced security features, all while keeping IT complexity to a minimum, so business owners can keep their companies protected. Microsoft 365 makes it easy to boost productivity with reliable and secure access to the apps and files that support your business.
At BrightFlow Technologies, our Microsoft hosting helps small businesses use the full functionality of Microsoft 365 to empower employees and fuel growth. Simple, trusted solutions improve the quality and effectiveness of work while ensuring your organization’s security.
The Importance of Microsoft 365 Monitoring
Microsoft 365 monitoring is critical for businesses in today’s technology-driven landscape. As organizations increasingly rely on cloud-based solutions like Microsoft 365 they need effective monitoring for:
- Proactive issue detection and resolution. Microsoft 365 monitoring enables businesses to identify and address performance issues, service disruptions and potential bottlenecks before they escalate into major problems. By detecting anomalies in real-time, organizations can take prompt action to maintain uninterrupted operations and user satisfaction.
- Optimized user experience. Monitoring ensures that users have a seamless and positive experience while using Microsoft 365 applications. By tracking metrics such as response times, application performance and user interactions, businesses can optimize the end-user experience and boost overall productivity.
- Data loss prevention. Microsoft 365 monitoring tools can help prevent data loss by monitoring user activities and identifying risky behavior patterns. This is especially crucial for safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring data integrity.
- Capacity planning and resource allocation: Monitoring provides insights into resource utilization and capacity trends within the Microsoft 365 environment. With this data, businesses can make informed decisions about resource allocation, scaling and network capacity planning to ensure optimal performance.
- Business continuity. Monitoring supports business continuity by ensuring that critical Microsoft 365 services are available and responsive. By minimizing downtime and disruptions, businesses can maintain operational continuity and minimize revenue loss.
- Strategic decision-making. Monitoring data provides valuable insights into user adoption, application usage and performance trends. These insights empower businesses to make data-driven decisions, optimize processes and use resources strategically to boost efficiency.
- Cost management. Effective monitoring can help organizations identify unnecessary resource consumption and optimize licensing costs within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This contributes to cost savings and efficient budget management.
- Vendor accountability. Monitoring helps hold cloud service providers accountable for service-level agreements (SLAs). If SLAs are not met, organizations can use monitoring data to engage in constructive discussions and negotiations with vendors.
In essence, Microsoft 365 monitoring, is not only about keeping a watchful eye on technical aspects; it’s a strategic approach to ensuring the reliability, security and optimal performance of the tools. By investing in comprehensive monitoring strategies, businesses can mitigate risks, enhance user experiences and position themselves for success.
Your Microsoft Hosting Needs
By now, you can see that professional Microsoft hosting and Microsoft monitoring can move your business forward. If you choose BrightFlow as your managed Microsoft services provider, you’ll receive best-in-class support for your subscription. We offer a variety of management options for your Microsoft 365 environment, so you can choose the level of support and budget that fits your needs.
Our Microsoft 365 managed services include migration, integration, customization and overall administration of Microsoft 365. We can automate your manual processes using Power Apps, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and more.
Contact us today for more information on how our knowledge, expertise and skills can boost your team’s performance, flexibility and collaboration.
BrightFlow for Microsoft 365
Our services include:
- Migration and implementation: From planning to migration to implementation, BrightFlow Technologies can move email and calendars to the cloud. We migrate your organization’s existing email, eliminate downtime and take measures to ensure that no one misses any messages.
- Microsoft 365 licensing: With the range of Microsoft 365 subscription levels, mismanagement and not knowing which is the right one can cost your organization. We handle the purchasing, manage monthly subscriptions and simplify billing so that you only pay for what you need.
- Ongoing management and support: With over 100 managed IT professionals and 24x7x365 help desk support, BrightFlow Technologies’s managed IT services have you covered.
Digital Transformation With Managed Microsoft 365
BrightFlow is with your business at every step.
Migrating Email
Moving email to the cloud can transform the way your organization works. As a major upgrade, it requires knowledge of Microsoft, technical consulting and technical support to control costs and maintain security. Simplify your move with our Microsoft 365 migration services. We have the knowledge and expertise, the right tools and a proven process to ensure a smooth transition from start to finish.
Businesses of all sizes can rely on BrightFlow Technologies to move email and files quickly and on time, without disruption and for a fixed price. It’s seamless, secure and cost-effective.
Planning
With BrightFlow’s help, your team will have direct access to Microsoft 365 from any location with all emails and files securely stored in the cloud. We build a complete migration plan by assessing your existing environment. With a defined timeline and clear expectations from our Microsoft 365 migration and implementation services, you can keep your team informed of the upcoming changes.
Security
Throughout the process of moving over to Microsoft 365, our focus remains on reducing risk and improving security for your team. We give you peace of mind by relying on experts to configure the proper settings and advise on the right security measures.
Integration
Technology should work together for a seamless experience. We can help you connect other apps and services to Microsoft 365 so it’s optimized for your organization’s unique needs.
Behind-the-Scenes Migration
BrightFlow Technologies uses best-in-class migration tools, so your team experiences little or no downtime. That means no impact on productivity.
Workstation Configuration
After your organization’s email migrates, we help make the changes to Outlook so your team can access the new mailboxes. Looking to leverage more of Microsoft 365? Allow BrightFlow Technologies to install Microsoft 365 and Office apps on computers so your team doesn’t have to.
Support
BrightFlow Technologies’ Microsoft 365 migration and implementation services include post-implementation support to help answer any questions and ensure a smooth transition. As a client, we support your team with ongoing administration and end-user support from the help desk.
Optimize Teams With BrightFlow
Microsoft Teams brings employees and resources together in one place to communicate, collaborate and get work done. We help you create shared workspaces that connect your employees, partners and customers with chats, online meetings, files and apps.
When implemented correctly, Teams gives employees at small, mid-sized and large businesses the tools to work together from anywhere. Providing an online workspace, Teams brings people together and dramatically increases productivity.
Collaboration is key, and keeping your team in sync requires a single place for them to securely share messages, files and relevant tools. With Microsoft Teams, you create focused spaces around shared projects, departments or whatever works best for your organization. Leverage familiar Office apps like Word in Microsoft Teams to work on files together in real time. Go a step further by connecting Teams with your other business apps to make achieving results even easier.
Chat
Your team can connect instantly by sending messages or making calls in Microsoft Teams. Whether in one-on-one conversations or with a group, you can keep everyone connected and reduce the email clutter.
Meetings
Microsoft Teams makes convening online simple, so your team can host high-quality meetings, trainings and webinars without the added cost of an online video conferencing software.
Hosted File Sharing
Microsoft 365 allows your team to share, edit and comment on documents in real time using Office, OneDrive for Business, and Sharepoint. Your employees can rely on BrightFlow Technologies to help them know which tool to use and offer quick solutions when they need help.
Secure File Sharing And Storage
Storing files and documents online makes it simple and secure for your team to share with others. Whether you want someone else to view one of your files or work on it in real time, Microsoft 365 has options.
Microsoft 365 provides several apps to store and share files securely: OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams. Although each app is different, they all work together to create a whole picture. BrightFlow Technologies can help implement the right solution and migrate your organization’s files to the Microsoft cloud. With our managed IT services, you also get support and expert advice to ensure your team always has access to their files and that the data is protected.
Managed Microsoft 365 Increases Your Security
Protect your team and their data against cyber threats no matter where they work. The growing use of cloud technology means your team is changing the way they work. Still, adjusting how you protect your organization doesn’t need to be complex.
Simplify your IT security strategy by knowing where your data lives and providing your employees secure access to that data from any device wherever they are. With Microsoft 365, the tool’s mobility and security services protect the new and flexible ways your people are working.
Our goal is to put the right security policies in place, so your team can be productive while keeping your organization’s data secure.
Microsoft 365 security tools include:
Azure Active Directory
Control how your employees sign in and access resources in the cloud, including Microsoft 365 apps and other online services, or resources on the server in your office. Keep the cybercriminals at bay by ensuring only the right people have the right level of access.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is one component that helps protect your organization from a breach due to a stolen password. It adds a layer of protection during the sign-in process. Cybercriminals won’t gain access with the password as they won’t have the second form of identification.
Single sign-on (SSO) is another component that provides a simple sign-in experience for the different tools your employees rely on while reducing the time spent managing multiple passwords and the risk of a breach. SSO enables your team to use one login to access Microsoft 365 as well as other SaaS and on-premise apps.
Intune
Intune protects your organization’s data on mobile devices, whether they’re company- or employee-owned. Mobile device management (MDM) ensures only trustworthy devices can access your resources. This high level of control is ideal for devices owned by the organization.
Mobile application management (MAM) protects the data within the app that may be used on personal devices. This is a popular solution for companies since employees don’t typically want to enroll their devices into the organization’s MDM program. You can give your team the flexibility they want AND keep everything safe.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
This tool helps protect email and the other Microsoft 365 collaboration tools from known and unknown attacks like phishing, ransomware and sophisticated malware. In addition to acting as a robust filter, it analyzes links and documents to find any potential threats before they reach your team.
We Understand How to Protect You With Backups
With the benefits it brings, Microsoft 365 is an important tool for your company. As the amount of data stored within Microsoft 365 apps grows and the security configurations become increasingly tailored to your needs, a backup solution keeps your team on track and gives you peace of mind.
You may assume that your data is automatically protected and always available. But data loss happens, even in the cloud. In fact, most data loss is caused by human error or malware.
Reasons for data loss in Microsoft 365 can include:
- Employees. You can easily plan for human error, whether someone accidentally deletes a file and doesn’t notice for a few months, or someone removes a former employee’s account without making a copy of the data. As more team members work remotely, proactively protecting against an employee intentionally deleting data is also important.
- Connected apps. In the modern workplace, having your organization’s apps work together saves your team time and helps them to make better business decisions. That’s why Microsoft 365 connects with thousands of apps. Unfortunately, connected apps can inadvertently overwrite data.
- Ransomware. Malware and viruses can spread to Microsoft 365. While your organization can boost the security to protect against ransomware from affecting your team’s OneDrive for Business files, it cannot guarantee to prevent all cyberthreats.
21 Essential Measures for a Secure Microsoft 365 Environment
Even when you leverage top-tier platforms like Microsoft 365, your overall cyber security could still be at risk. The default settings of these powerful tools might not align with the specific security needs of your business.
Here are 21 critical controls that BrightFlow’s team highly recommends enabling to fortify your Microsoft 365 implementation:
- Configure anti-phishing policies.
- Enable Azure AD identity protection sign-in risk policies.
- Enable mailbox logs.
- Use dedicated administrator accounts.
- Enable safe attachment policies in Microsoft Defender.
- Enable internal phishing protection for forms.
- Block unnecessary file types.
- Block third-party integrated applications.
- Enable safe links policies in Microsoft Defender.
- Enable Azure AD password protection.
- Block external mail forwarding.
- Report phishing emails.
- Enable Microsoft 365 audit log search.
- Configure DKIM for all Exchange online domains.
- Enable conditional access policies to block legacy authentication.
- Block user-consented applications.
- Configure SPF records for all exchange domains.
- Enable identity protection to identify anomalous login behavior.
- Block Sways from being shared with people outside of the organization.
- Enforce multi-factor authentication.
- Configure DMARC records for all exchange online domains recommend enabling to fortify your Microsoft 365 implementation.
If you have questions about Microsoft 365 monitoring for your business, reach out to the team at BrightFlow Technologies right here.