We are thrilled to announce we are finalists for the SDC Awards 2022!

How to Vote

 Please vote for TBSC’s Smarter SaaS under the ‘Software As A Service Innovation of the Year’ category here: https://sdcawards.com/vote

Please note that voting rules will apply, and all voting is strictly monitored:

  • You can make only one vote per award category.
  • Votes will only be accepted from a current business email address.
  • Votes from third party email providers (hotmail, yahoo, etc) will NOT be counted.
  • A nominated company or supplier cannot vote for themselves any such votes will NOT be counted.

More about the SDC Awards 2022

Reflecting the transformational nature of the enterprise technology world which it serves, this year’s 13th edition of Angel Business Communications’ premier IT awards has a new name. The SVC Awards have become… the SDC Awards!

The SDC Awards are firmly focused on recognising and rewarding success in the products and services that are the foundation for digital transformation!

To learn more please visit: https://sdcawards.com/

More about Smarter SaaS

SMARTER SAAS

The Business Software Centre (TBSC)

CATEGORY

Software-as-a-Service Innovation of the Year

ENTRY DESCRIPTION

Our product Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 automatically tracks and monitors Microsoft 365 application usage. Though we can focus on applications like SharePoint, OneDrive, etc. We have noticed a large growth of success with tracking/ monitoring Microsoft Teams usage. By providing benchmark data, Smarter SaaS can showcase how to boost a customers ROI, and improve compliance and security through an easy to use dashboard that provides accurate and actionable data. Especially with the increase of remote work during the pandemic, we help our customers go from low usage levels, to at least 95% usage efficiency. This helps our customers get the most of what they are paying for with Microsoft 365.

Additionally, from our recent client report (Jan 2022) we have noticed our customers are in various sectors. With over 215,000 users, our top sectors include: large businesses in manufacturing/ engineering, property/construction/estates, and business consulting/ management (large businesses being more than 250+ employees).

As mentioned before, we provide a benchmark to gauge where our clients are currently at with their Microsoft 365 usage and with this information our goal is to boost their usage to at least 95% through optimization, reharvesting, and surplus data analysis. The breakdown of our benchmark involves analysing paid subscribers, monthly costs, compliance, and comparing these to usage of Teams. This means we look at what apps are installed on which devices, suggest app adoption, pinpoint leavers, movers, joiners, etc.

Additionally, we offer a free health-check to our clients to get them scored for their benchmark on Microsoft 365 usage. With our research, we discovered (pre-pandemic) that 89% of users were not tracking or monitoring their Microsoft 365 usage. Other data collected included:


-11% of users fully utilise M365 Teams functions
-5% of remote employees are non-compliant, having their subscriptions installed on more than 5 devices
-43% of users do not use Teams at all
-19% of remote staff cite isolation & loneliness are problems(View research here: https://tbsc.cloud/new-year-new-microsoft-365-problem/)


With the free health-check benchmark, we provide a score to our clients and offer solutions to boost their usage/ ROI.


Two examples include:

Case study 1: Engineering consultant assists with process ,MEICA, civil design, Offsite Manufacture &Assembly, Instrumentation Control & Automation products and Commissioning services to clients in: Energy, Process & Water, Nuclear , Oil &Gas .Microsoft 365 subscriptions had been deployed to full time/ part time staff with variable levels of usage. As staff left and joined it was difficult tokeep pace with the JML process as it related to Microsoft 365 subscription. The result? Potential ROI from using Smarter SaaS 365 x4. Improve Teams Usage from76% to 95% & Increase One Drive and SharePoint usage to 95%.


Case study 2: The NHS Trust operates a major hospital with ahigh turnover of temporary staff. Coping withCOVID caused an issue in managing IT due tothe requirements for rapid change and in supporting medical staff, temporary staff, ex: joiners, movers, leavers (JML Process).Microsoft 365 subscriptions had been deployed to full time and temporary staff with variable levels of usage. As temporary staff joined and left it was difficult to keep pace with the JML process as it related to Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The result? Benchmarking with TBSC’s365″Health-Check“ the analysisdiscovered2832subscriptions,that could be reharvested(recycled) or optimized offering total annual savings of £ 122,052.00

Also, we listen to partner feedback and use client/partner voices to help make improvements on our Smarter SaaS product. Though Smarter SaaS launched in May of 2020, we have made improvements to incorporate businesses needs, especially keeping in mind the shift to remote work due to the pandemic. The Smarter SaaS tool was launched with the ability to track, monitor, and managing over 40+ SaaS applications, replacing manual Software Asset Management (SAM) tasks with full automation capabilities. However, the changes to the product focus heavily on Microsoft 365 management. Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 is now considered a Microsoft best practice and is in the Partner Center best practice library. In the case of businesses not having a SAM Manager, or time for their IT dept. to dedicate to SAM strategies, this is an all-in-one solution that provides accurate and actionable data that aligns with business goals. Whether that is increase ROI, improve usage, reharvest licenses, etc. Smarter SaaS can look over the past 180 days of software activity, all through the cloud, to determine what needs to be done to improve business strategies.

We work closely with MSP partners. Here is a quote from our Microsoft case study:


“We want to keep our customers for the long term. Using TBSC’s Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 enables us to quickly identify ways to optimize subscription licensing, see opportunities, and increase usage adoption.”
—Jeremy Hemus, Infrastructure Director, GCC Group


(the partner case study can be accessed here: https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/case-studies/tbsc)
Our future plans are to develop an Intune report within our Smarter SaaS product. Here is a quote from one of our partners:


‘For many businesses, Intune plays a large part in their future plans. And while Intune will no doubt evolve greatly along the road; at the moment it does require cleansing through scripts and the pulling of reports can be frustrating. Users will have noticed columns and formatting disappearing/changing upon export from the console. This is why assistance with data within and around Intune is big demand at the moment, a requirement that can only grow exponentially with time as more people lean more fully on this platform.’ – May Turnbull, EasySAM

What is the biggest problem with Microsoft 365? Most businesses do not fully use their Teams! Pre-pandemic research: TBSC has conducted research with thousands of Microsoft 365 users. We found the biggest problem with Microsoft 365 is that most organisations are not efficient with their M365 application usage. 89% of businesses are NOT using full Microsoft Teams functions. We have found that the increase in remote work is here to stay and having communication via Microsoft Teams can assist with the lack of in-person communication or physical office space structure.


From our benchmark free trial, we have a conversion rate of 80% where our clients choose to go on a month-to-month or annual subscription of Smarter SaaS. Our clients see the benefits of automatically tracking Teams usage and have implemented Smarter SaaS to boost ROI.


Another need is for easy-to-use data reporting. Some clients do not have Software Asset Management teams. With Smarter SaaS, we take the manual effort out and pull regular reports weekly. We use our MSP partner companies to assist with installs and reporting, which provides our end user clients quick and efficient analysis on where they stand with their Microsoft 365 usage. Our solution is easily accessible and available through Microsoft AppSource and Marketplace, as well as on the Global Best Practices Library.


(Sources: https://tbsc.cloud/a-big-problem-no-one-uses-microsoft-teams/ & https://tbsc.cloud/biggest-problem-microsoft-365/ & https://tbsc.cloud/microsoft-co-op-use-it-before-you-lose-it/ )

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