What should a good IT company actually be doing to make Microsoft 365 safer, easier to use and better value?
That means reducing the long feature-by-feature catalogue and organising the article around security, device management, collaboration, automation, AI readiness, licensing and ongoing governance.
How Your IT Company Can Make Microsoft 365 Better for Security and Productivity
Microsoft 365 can be far more than Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.
Depending on the licences your business uses, it can also provide:
identity protection
device management
email security
SharePoint and OneDrive
collaboration
automation
compliance controls
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Copilot
The problem is that buying Microsoft 365 licences does not automatically mean those capabilities are being used properly.
A business can pay for Microsoft 365 for years while still suffering from:
weak account security
unmanaged laptops
confused file storage
abandoned Teams sites
excessive administrator privileges
poor employee onboarding
duplicate software subscriptions
licences assigned to people who no longer need them
A capable IT company should therefore do more than renew Microsoft licences and reset passwords.
It should treat Microsoft 365 as a managed business platform.
Start With a Microsoft 365 Review
Before changing anything, your IT provider should understand what already exists.
A useful review should cover areas such as:
users and administrators
licences
MFA
Conditional Access
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Intune
email-security policies
SharePoint and OneDrive permissions
external sharing
Teams
backup requirements
Microsoft Secure Score
Copilot readiness
unused accounts and services
The objective is not to produce a 70-page technical report.
It should answer three practical questions:
Where are we exposed?
Where are we wasting money?
Where is Microsoft 365 making work harder than it needs to be?
The output should then become a prioritised improvement plan.
1. Secure the Identities First
For most Microsoft 365 environments, identity is the most important security layer.
If an attacker gains control of a Microsoft 365 account, they may be able to reach:
Outlook
Teams
OneDrive
SharePoint
company applications
customer information
Your IT provider should therefore review:
MFA coverage
permitted authentication methods
administrator protection
legacy authentication
inactive accounts
guest users
suspicious sign-ins
For businesses using Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft Entra ID P1 is included and supports Conditional Access.
The goal should be stronger than:
“Everyone has MFA.”
A good provider should ask whether:
administrators need stronger authentication
unmanaged devices should access sensitive data
risky sign-ins should be blocked
legacy protocols should be restricted
emergency-access accounts are configured safely
2. Use Conditional Access Properly
Conditional Access allows Microsoft Entra ID to make access decisions using signals such as:
user
device
application
location
authentication strength
Microsoft describes Conditional Access as a core Zero Trust policy engine and currently frames Zero Trust around three principles:
verify explicitly
use least privilege
assume breach.
A well-designed Microsoft 365 environment might therefore:
require MFA
block outdated authentication
require managed devices for sensitive systems
apply stronger controls to administrators
restrict unexpected sign-in locations
block risky access
These policies should be tested carefully.
A badly designed Conditional Access policy can lock legitimate users out just as effectively as it blocks attackers.
A competent IT provider should use staged deployment, report-only testing where appropriate and protected emergency access.
3. Protect Administrator Accounts
Global Administrator is one of the most powerful roles in Microsoft 365.
Too many businesses have far too many of them.
A good provider should:
minimise Global Administrators
use separate everyday and admin accounts
assign narrower roles where possible
monitor privileged activity
remove old admin access
review role membership regularly
The person who administers Teams does not necessarily need complete control over:
Exchange
SharePoint
security
billing
identity
Least privilege reduces the damage one compromised account can cause.
4. Configure Microsoft 365 Email Security
Email remains one of the most common routes into a business.
Attackers use:
phishing
fake invoices
QR-code scams
credential-stealing links
malicious attachments
supplier impersonation
executive impersonation
Microsoft 365 security can include protections such as:
anti-spam
anti-malware
anti-phishing
Safe Links
Safe Attachments
impersonation protection
depending on licensing.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium currently includes Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 alongside Intune Plan 1 and Defender for Business.
But having the licence is only the start.
Your IT company should make sure:
policies are configured
alerts are monitored
false positives are reviewed
quarantine procedures make sense
employees know how to report suspicious messages
Security products are useful only when somebody owns the response.
5. Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Microsoft 365 account security does not stop criminals from pretending to send email from your company domain.
That is where:
SPF
DKIM
DMARC
matter.
A good IT provider should identify all authorised email senders, including:
Microsoft 365
CRM platforms
marketing systems
invoicing software
website platforms
Then implement email authentication deliberately.
DMARC should normally be introduced in stages rather than jumping straight to a strict enforcement policy without knowing which systems legitimately send mail.
Otherwise the organisation may end up blocking its own messages.
6. Manage Devices With Intune
If employees access Microsoft 365 from business laptops and mobiles, identities are only part of the picture.
Microsoft Intune can help centrally manage:
encryption
security configuration
applications
Wi-Fi and VPN profiles
device compliance
operating-system versions
remote actions
Business Premium includes Intune Plan 1.
That allows an IT provider to move away from:
“We think all laptops are encrypted.”
towards:
“We can actually verify which devices are compliant.”
That difference matters.
7. Use Defender as a Managed Security Platform
Microsoft Defender can provide strong endpoint-security capability.
But again:
buying Defender ≠ managing Defender.
Your IT company should verify:
devices are onboarded
security sensors are healthy
policies are appropriate
alerts reach somebody
incidents are investigated
recurring problems are remediated
A dashboard full of unread security alerts is not meaningful protection.
The value comes from:
detect → investigate → respond → improve.
8. Make SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive Easier to Understand
Microsoft 365 productivity often suffers because employees do not know where information belongs.
A useful rule is:
OneDrive → personal working files
SharePoint → team and organisational content
Teams → collaboration around work that often uses SharePoint underneath
Your IT provider should help create:
sensible SharePoint structures
clear ownership
consistent permissions
controlled external sharing
archive/lifecycle processes
Without governance, Microsoft 365 can turn into:
five Teams called Marketing
three copies of the same proposal
important company documents living in one employee's OneDrive
Technology should reduce confusion rather than simply move it into the cloud.
9. Review External Sharing
Sharing a document with a client should be easy.
Sharing it with the entire internet accidentally should not be.
Your provider should review:
anonymous links
guest accounts
site permissions
link expiry
external access
former suppliers
inactive guests
The aim is not to ban collaboration.
It is to make external sharing deliberate and reversible.
10. Prepare Microsoft 365 Properly for Copilot
This is increasingly important in 2026.
Microsoft 365 Copilot can use organisational data a user already has permission to access, including documents, email, chats and meetings. Microsoft is explicit that Copilot does not grant extra permissions—it surfaces information within the user’s existing access.
That means Copilot can expose a governance problem that already existed.
If somebody can technically access:
25 years of badly permissioned SharePoint data
Copilot may make that information much easier for them to find.
Before a broad Copilot rollout, your IT provider should review:
SharePoint permissions
broad-access groups
external sharing
abandoned sites
data ownership
sensitive information
Microsoft now provides additional governance controls around SharePoint oversharing, including restricted site access and data-access governance tooling.
AI readiness therefore starts with permissions, not licences.
11. Use Copilot Where It Saves Real Time
Copilot should then be deployed around useful business scenarios.
Examples might include:
summarising meetings
drafting documents
analysing information
finding work content
preparing presentations
helping with email
But giving every employee a Copilot licence simply because AI is fashionable is not necessarily good licence management.
Start with employees whose work involves significant:
meetings
writing
information analysis
document review
Measure whether it actually saves time.
Expand where the value is real.
12. Automate Repetitive Work
Power Automate can remove many manual processes.
Look for phrases such as:
“Every time this happens, someone has to…”
That is often an automation opportunity.
Examples include:
approval requests
onboarding notifications
reminders
document routing
task creation
form processing
But automation needs ownership.
Your IT provider should document:
who owns the flow
which account runs it
what happens when it fails
who maintains it
Avoid making a critical company workflow depend permanently on one employee's personal Microsoft account.
13. Improve Onboarding and Offboarding
Microsoft 365 should make employee lifecycle management more consistent.
A new employee may need:
account
licence
Teams membership
SharePoint access
security groups
laptop
applications
MFA
A documented process reduces omissions.
The same is even more important when somebody leaves.
Offboarding should address:
sign-in
sessions
licences
mailbox access
OneDrive
Teams ownership
SharePoint permissions
forwarding
privileged roles
Leaving old accounts and access behind is both a security problem and a licensing waste.
14. Review Microsoft Secure Score — Without Chasing 100%
Microsoft Secure Score is useful for identifying security improvement opportunities, but Microsoft itself describes its recommendations as a baseline rather than complete coverage of every attack surface.
Your IT company should therefore use it to help answer:
Which control reduces real risk?
not:
Which button gives us the most points?
A business can have a high Secure Score and still have:
poor backup
weak business processes
vulnerable third-party systems
inadequate incident response
Use the score as evidence.
Not as a certificate of security.
15. Stop Paying for Microsoft 365 You Do Not Use
Licensing should be reviewed regularly.
Businesses commonly accumulate:
former employee licences
unnecessary add-ons
duplicated security products
inappropriate licence tiers
A good IT provider should periodically ask:
Who needs which licence?
Which paid features are actually deployed?
Are separate products duplicating Microsoft functionality?
Are expensive licences producing value?
The objective is not simply to reduce licence cost.
It is to align cost with capability actually being used.
16. Review Microsoft 365 Continuously
Microsoft 365 changes constantly.
New:
security controls
Copilot features
management options
compliance capabilities
arrive throughout the year.
Configuration also drifts.
Employees join and leave.
Teams are created.
SharePoint permissions expand.
New applications are authorised.
So Microsoft 365 should not be configured once and forgotten.
A managed review cycle should look at:
security
users
devices
licences
permissions
sharing
alerts
adoption
AI governance
Microsoft 365 should evolve alongside the business.
What Should Your IT Company Actually Deliver?
A good Microsoft 365 provider should be able to demonstrate improvements across four outcomes:
Security
Are identities, devices, email and data better protected?
Productivity
Are employees spending less time fighting tools and searching for information?
Governance
Does the organisation understand who owns data, sites and permissions?
Value
Are you actually using the capabilities you are paying for?
If your IT provider only:
creates accounts and renews licences
you are probably not getting the full benefit of Microsoft 365.
How Hamilton Group Can Help
Hamilton Group can help businesses turn Microsoft 365 from a collection of subscriptions into a properly managed business platform.
We can assist with:
Microsoft 365 reviews
Microsoft Entra ID
MFA and Conditional Access
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Intune
SharePoint
OneDrive
Teams
Microsoft Copilot
Power Automate
licence optimisation
security hardening
ongoing Microsoft 365 support
The goal is not to enable every Microsoft feature.
It is to make sure the platform is secure, manageable, productive and cost-effective for the way your business actually works.
Visit hgmssp.com or call 0330 043 0069.
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Drupal-ready blog summary
I would replace the current article with this version. The live page is excellent as a reference but, at 846 lines, it tries to cover almost every Microsoft 365 feature individually. The tighter rewrite keeps the strongest commercial message: your IT provider should make Microsoft 365 safer, simpler and better value—not merely keep it running.