License optimization, tenant administration, user provisioning, governance, and ongoing support. We manage every aspect of your Microsoft 365 environment so your team can focus on the business. Most clients save $2,000-$5,000/month within the first 30 days.
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This is what a real license audit looks like. We analyze every assignment in your tenant, compare actual usage against license capabilities, and deliver specific recommendations with dollar savings.
| License Type | Seats Purchased | Seats Used | Recommendation | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E5 ($57/user) | 40 | 12 active in advanced features | Downgrade 28 to E3 | $1,064 |
| E3 ($36/user) | 80 | 75 active | Reclaim 5 unused | $180 |
| Business Premium ($22/user) | 30 | 18 active | Downgrade 12 to Basic | $168 |
| Copilot ($30/user) | 50 | 8 actively using | Reduce to 15 power users | $1,050 |
| Total Monthly Savings | $2,462/month |
Based on a real 200-user client engagement. Annual savings: $29,544. The audit paid for itself in the first week.
After auditing hundreds of M365 tenants, these are the issues we find in almost every environment. Most are quick fixes with immediate security and cost benefits.
E5 costs $57/user/month vs $36 for E3. The $21 difference adds up fast. Here is what you actually get for the premium -- and who really needs it.
| Feature | E3 ($36/user/mo) | E5 ($57/user/mo) | Who Needs E5? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office Apps (Word, Excel, etc.) | Included | Included | Everyone (E3 is fine) |
| Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive | Included | Included | Everyone (E3 is fine) |
| Microsoft Teams | Included | Included | Everyone (E3 is fine) |
| Defender for Office 365 P2 | Not included | Included | Security team, executives |
| Cloud App Security | Not included | Included | Security / compliance team |
| eDiscovery Premium | Not included | Included | Legal / compliance only |
| Power BI Pro | Not included | Included | Data analysts, finance |
| Phone System | Not included | Included | If replacing PBX with Teams |
In a typical 200-user organization, 10-20 users need E5. The rest can use E3 with no impact on productivity. That saves $3,780-$4,200/month.
We audit every license assignment in your tenant against actual usage data from the M365 admin center. Users who have E5 but only use email and Office apps get downgraded to E3. Departed employees with active licenses get reclaimed. Shared mailboxes on paid licenses get converted. Copilot seats assigned to users who never open it get reallocated to power users. The audit runs monthly, not once -- because license sprawl is a continuous problem that requires continuous governance. Average savings across our client base: 22% of total license spend within the first month.
Automated provisioning for new hires covers license assignment based on role, group memberships for department and location, mailbox creation, OneDrive pre-provisioning, Teams membership, and access to line-of-business applications. Role changes trigger automatic license and group adjustments. Offboarding follows a 15-step checklist: mailbox conversion to shared, OneDrive transfer to manager, license reclamation, sign-in block, MFA reset, forwarding removal, Teams removal, and 90-day hold before deletion. Every action is logged and auditable for compliance.
Complete Exchange Online administration: transport rules for email routing and compliance, spam filtering tuning to reduce false positives, DKIM/DMARC/SPF authentication to prevent spoofing, shared mailbox management with delegation and send-as permissions, distribution list and dynamic group maintenance, and mail flow monitoring. We also handle mail migration from on-premises Exchange, IMAP, or third-party providers. When email breaks at 2 AM, our team is already investigating because we monitor mail flow in real time and detect delivery issues before your users report them.
Microsoft Teams governance that prevents sprawl while enabling productivity: team creation policies to prevent 500 abandoned teams, naming conventions, classification labels, guest access controls with expiration dates, meeting policies (recording permissions, anonymous join settings, lobby controls), app permission management, and external sharing rules. We implement retention policies so deleted content is recoverable and archive inactive teams automatically. Monthly Teams usage reports show adoption trends and identify departments that need additional training or configuration support.
Microsoft Purview DLP policies that detect and block sensitive data (SSNs, credit card numbers, health records) from leaving your organization via email, Teams, or SharePoint. Sensitivity labels that classify and encrypt documents automatically. Retention labels for regulatory compliance (HIPAA 6-year retention, SOC 2 audit logs, legal holds). Conditional Access policies that enforce MFA, block legacy authentication, restrict access by location and device compliance, and prevent data exfiltration. Defender for Office 365 with safe links, safe attachments, and anti-phishing policies tuned to your domain.
Monthly executive reports covering license utilization trends, security posture scoring (Microsoft Secure Score with change tracking), compliance status against your framework requirements, user adoption metrics, and cost optimization opportunities. Quarterly strategic reviews where we recommend configuration changes, highlight emerging M365 features relevant to your business, and plan major tenant changes (new services, geographic expansion, acquisition integration). All reports are delivered in a format your leadership can act on -- one-page summaries with drill-down appendices for technical teams.
Complete license audit with immediate right-sizing. Enable security defaults or Conditional Access baseline. Block legacy authentication. Configure admin alerts. Reclaim unused licenses from departed employees. Enable audit logging. Deliver first savings report showing month-one impact. Typical result: 15-25% license cost reduction and 40+ point Secure Score improvement.
Deploy DLP policies for sensitive data types relevant to your industry. Configure retention labels and policies. Implement sensitivity labels for document classification. Harden Conditional Access with device compliance requirements. Enable Defender for Office 365 with tuned anti-phishing policies. Conduct guest access review and implement expiration policies. Set up automated compliance reporting.
Implement automated user provisioning workflows. Deploy Teams governance (naming, classification, expiration). Configure SharePoint site lifecycle management. Set up monthly license reconciliation automation. Establish quarterly business review cadence. Deliver comprehensive governance playbook documenting all policies, configurations, and procedures. Transition to ongoing managed operations with monthly reporting and continuous optimization.
Our license audit typically pays for itself within the first week. We find waste that has been accumulating for years: departed users still consuming licenses, shared mailboxes on paid plans, E5 assigned to users who only open Outlook, and Copilot seats going unused. The average client saves $2,462/month from the license audit alone -- that is $29,544/year returned to your budget.
We do not dabble in M365. It is our core platform, and we have worked in the Microsoft ecosystem since 1999. Our engineers hold current Microsoft certifications and work in M365 tenants daily. That means we know the settings that generalist MSPs miss, the gotchas that cause outages, and the best practices that Microsoft recommends but rarely enforces in their own deployment guidance.
Monthly health checks against Microsoft best practices. Quarterly strategy reviews with your leadership. Continuous monitoring for configuration drift, security anomalies, and licensing inefficiencies. We catch problems before they become incidents. When Microsoft changes a default setting (which happens regularly), we evaluate the impact on your tenant and adjust proactively.
Adding 50 users for a new project? Opening a satellite office? Acquiring a company with their own M365 tenant? We handle the M365 implications: license procurement, tenant-to-tenant migration, domain consolidation, and policy harmonization. You grow the business; we scale the technology to match.
We pull usage data from the M365 admin center and cross-reference it against license assignments. Users with E5 who never touch Defender, eDiscovery, or Power BI get downgraded to E3. Departed employees with active licenses get reclaimed immediately. Shared mailboxes on paid plans get converted to free shared mailboxes. Copilot seats assigned to users with less than 10% utilization get reallocated. We implement governance policies to prevent future sprawl and run monthly reconciliation. Average savings: 20-30% of total license spend.
Everything: user provisioning and offboarding, group management, mail flow rules, SharePoint site administration, Teams governance, OneDrive policies, retention and DLP policies, security configurations, Conditional Access management, compliance settings, and admin portal management. We handle the day-to-day operations so your team focuses on business-facing work. All changes follow documented change management procedures with full audit trails.
Absolutely. We operate as an extension of your team, not a replacement. Many clients use us for specialized M365 administration while their internal IT handles helpdesk and user-facing support. We integrate with your ticketing system (ServiceNow, Jira, ConnectWise, Freshdesk, or others), follow your change management processes, and participate in your CAB meetings when M365 changes are on the agenda.
We implement Microsoft Purview policies for DLP, retention, sensitivity labels, and information barriers tailored to your regulatory requirements. Audit logging is enabled and monitored. eDiscovery holds are configured for legal requirements. Compliance reporting is automated and aligned to HIPAA, SOC 2, NIST, or CIS frameworks as needed. We also handle Microsoft Compliance Manager assessments and maintain your compliance score with continuous improvement actions.
E3 ($36/user/month) includes Office apps, Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, basic security features, and standard compliance tools. E5 ($57/user/month) adds Defender for Office 365 P2, Cloud App Security, eDiscovery Premium, Audit Premium, Power BI Pro, and Phone System. In a typical 200-user organization, only 10-20 users need E5-level features (security team, compliance officers, executives, data analysts). The remaining 180+ users can use E3 with zero impact on productivity, saving $3,780+ per month.
The full M365 stack: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Apps (Office), Power Platform (Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps), Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), Intune, Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Purview, Viva, Copilot, and all associated admin centers. If it is in your M365 tenant, we manage it.
30-minute assessment identifies license waste, security gaps, and governance opportunities. Most companies save 20-30% on their first month.