The short answer is yes.

TBSC found that 89% of organizations do not track or monitor their Microsoft 365 subscriptions, risking their budget. Chances are if your business is running on Microsoft 365 you are losing money in the process. Don’t worry, we have the solution for you to help increase your ROI and boost your cost optimization.

In this blog we will review the benefits of having the initial analysis and planning that comes with managed services for Microsoft 365. When shopping for a managed service, costs vary according to the depth and frequency of the service as well as the size of the subscriber base.

Are you a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and want to learn more? Download our Microsoft 365 Managed Services Guide whitepaper here:

Planning and Initial Analysis for Microsoft 365 Managed Service

Most businesses do not know where they stand with Microsoft 365 usage. This is where tools like Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 can help gather initial data needed to benchmark your current usage and spend. This is also known as discovery, where you discover your license inventory before developing an action plan.

Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 assists by automizing the data collection over the past 180 days and highlighting areas that need improvement with your Microsoft 365 usage.

One you have collected your data; it is time to look at your business specific priorities and goals:

  1. What are the company goals? Financial? Usage?
  2. How can managed services help achieve those goals?

Based off these two foundational questions, you can build up a project plan that incorporates the financial and usage goals of the company.

Luckily, you do not have to do this alone. Good Managed Service Providers (MSPs) listen to their customer’s needs and tailor plans of action that are specifically unique to the company goals.  This is done through:

  • Analyzing results and benchmark to identify key issues and opportunities
  • Creating goals for cost optimization & usage improvements
  • Prioritizing actions
  • Creating project plans
  • Managing the process & reporting at agreed schedule

What are the benefits of using an MSP?   

If you do not have a Software Asset Manager in your IT Department, it might be time to consider having a Managed Services Provider. Why? Your IT Department is a busy place and taking the time to review Microsoft 365 licenses, whether that is making sure your company remains compliant, or trying to manage who uses or needs what licenses, often goes to the side to prioritize other jobs.

We have had clients in the past with poor compliance and poor Microsoft 365 usage. From our research, we found that 43% of users who have a Microsoft Teams subscription are not using their application! We also noticed many opportunities for licenses to be reallocation. This is where employees left the business, but the business was STILL PAYING for their Microsoft 365 subscription which leads to IT budget waste. In the age of the cloud and month to month subscriptions, paying for licenses you are not using adds up.

By having a Managed Service Provider, your Microsoft 365 becomes a one stop shop. Not only could you purchase your subscriptions from the MSP, but you acquire the management aspects, allowing your business to devote time to other tasks whilst the MSP takes care of your cost optimization, return on investment, and your compliance.

Here are some ways MSPs can help you:

  • Understanding behaviors and root causes for non-use
  • Building up your application usage so there is no application waste
  • Reallocating licenses, license optimization
  • Providing training opportunities to boost communication and usage, i.e. Teams
  • Tracking and monitoring usage and spend
  • Offering a continuous improvement process and monitoring goals  

Are you looking to get started with an MSP? Check out our Smarter SaaS for Microsoft 365 Health Check, where we give you a FREE 30 days of software analysis and benchmarking. To learn more, visit our free trial page here.

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