Deploying Microsoft 365 can be a game-changer for many businesses. Its wide range of powerful tools can help increase collaboration, communication, and productivity. However, many organizations run into common pitfalls that can lead to security vulnerabilities, poor user adoption, and unnecessary headaches. From overlooking compliance requirements to underestimating training needs, these mistakes can slow down your deployment and reduce the value of your investment. In this blog, we’ll explore common mistakes companies make when rolling out Microsoft 365 and how to avoid them.
Misconfigurations in Security Settings
The first common problem we will explore is misconfigurations in security settings. This mistake can create significant vulnerabilities that put your data at risk. Common examples of this include not enabling multi-factor authentication, assigning too many users to administrator roles, and not enabling security alerts. As a consulting company, SPK and Associates have experience configuring settings for companies across industries. These companies vary in size and have varying compliance requirements. Our experts can help configure security settings to not only keep your information secure but also to ensure you meet all security requirements for your industry. This includes helping your organization choose the correct license(s), assigning roles, and enabling zero trust principles. With our managed services, we continuously monitor your information, ensuring any security alerts are mitigated quickly and efficiently.
Ineffective User Training and Adoption Plans
Another common mistake is ineffective user training. When your 365 users are not properly trained on how and when to use certain solutions, it leads to inefficiency, improper data storage, and even data loss. SPK has helped a lot of customers in their onboarding process, providing customers with the training tools they need. A large part of this process covers acceptable use. Acceptable use explains the appropriate and inappropriate ways to use Microsoft 365 products. For example, it covers the proper and improper ways to share files with third parties.
Overlooking Governance and Compliance Requirements
Overlooking compliance requirements can lead to significant risks including fines, data breaches, and reputational damage. Not meeting requirements doesn’t just look bad for your organization, but it can lead to otherwise preventable repercussions. An expert at SPK recalls a financial customer who needed to comply with financial governing groups such as the SEC and FINRA. In this instance, a former employee had shared a trade secret with an outsider. Upon learning this, FINRA requested to view the customer records to ensure nothing was done illegally. When a government agency such as FINRA submits a request like this, it is important to get them the information quickly, or else you can be fined. Fortunately, Microsoft 365 has certain features that make finding this information easy, if you know where to look. Our experts extracted the data in a timely fashion and made it easier for our client to find this information in the future. We ensured their inquiry was properly set up with the appropriate level of licenses to prevent further non-compliance. Aligning technical configurations with compliance requirements is a common practice for our experts.
Inadequate Planning for Data Migration
When migrating data, it is vital to plan or you risk losing data in the process. Our experts have extensive experience with migrating from tools such as on-prem exchange and Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. Commonly, we estimate costs and the amount of time a migration will take based on the amount of data and necessary tools that will be migrated. In addition to these estimates, we help the client come up with a rollback plan in case the migration goes sideways or the customer decides to stop the migration for any reason. To help come up with estimates, we perform several dry runs leading up to the migration to ensure the estimated downtime is as accurate as possible. After all of these tests and estimates, we can perform a successful migration.
Underestimating Licensing Needs and Costs
Underestimating licensing needs and costs goes hand-in-hand with poor migration planning. If you prepare for less than what your company needs, it can lead to poorly managed data and a lack of proper storage. Additionally, organizations must prepare for the cost of managing within Microsoft 365 including scaling estimation. If their company grows, they must be prepared for the cost of meeting these new needs. While SPK can help estimate costs, we also ensure our clients are accounting for all third-party integrations. Migrating these can often add additional costs that can be overlooked. If the company is growing, we can estimate current costs as well as a projection of what it could cost for them in the future. This includes potential licensing changes. As a managed service provider, if our clients continuously work with us, we can manage all of these scaling changes for them. If instead, a client wishes to use our services for a one-time migration, we can provide them with the information they need for the future.
Failure to Customize and Optimize Features for Business Needs
Failing to optimize features for your unique business needs ultimately leads to inefficient business practices. Tailoring your tools to you helps you work more quickly which can help save money as well. Managed service providers such as SPK are great at ensuring our customers’ constantly evolving business needs are always met with the proper tools, features, and customizations. While we can help configure Microsoft 365 when a client initially sets up, utilizing our managed services allows us to continuously adapt the tools to their needs.
Disaster Recovery
While no one wants to think about a disaster ruining their data, it is always best to have a recovery plan. If you do not plan ahead, you risk losing vital data with no way of getting it back. SPK has experience devising a proper recovery plan for our clients. We always recommend implementing a third-party backup solution such as AFI.ai. If for some reason a data center goes offline or a user accidentally deletes data, this tool will provide a way to recover it.
Ready To Successfully Deploy Microsoft 365?
Deploying Microsoft 365 can revolutionize the way your business operates. However, without the right strategy, it can introduce security risks, compliance challenges, and inefficiencies. Whether you need to optimize licensing, migrate data, or ensure regulatory compliance, SPK and Associates has the expertise to guide you through a seamless and secure deployment. Don’t let common mistakes slow down your Microsoft 365 adoption. Contact our experts today to build a solution tailored to your business needs. Let’s create a secure, compliant, and scalable environment for your organization.
