Most businesses using Microsoft 365 are only scratching the surface of what's included in their subscription. Beyond Outlook and Word, there's a suite of powerful tools that can dramatically improve your team's security, productivity and collaboration — without any extra cost.
Here are five features our engineers regularly enable for clients that make an immediate, measurable difference.
Microsoft Defender for Business
Included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Defender for Business provides enterprise-grade endpoint protection across all your devices. It detects threats, automatically remediates attacks, and gives you a security dashboard showing your organisation's risk score. Most businesses have it available and don't know it's there.
Microsoft Teams — beyond video calls
Teams isn't just for meetings. It's a full collaboration platform with channels, file sharing, task management via Planner, and integration with almost every business app. Setting up structured channels for each project or department — with shared files and conversation history — transforms how teams work and dramatically reduces email clutter.
Conditional Access policies
Conditional Access lets you set rules about who can access your systems, from where, and on which devices. For example: block access from outside the UK, require MFA on unmanaged devices, or deny access to certain apps on personal phones. It's one of the most powerful security features in Microsoft 365 and takes under an hour to configure.
SharePoint for document management
If your team still uses email attachments or a chaotic shared drive, SharePoint can transform how you manage documents. With version history, co-authoring, and permissions down to the folder level, it's a proper document management system built into your existing subscription. Combined with OneDrive sync, files are accessible everywhere — and automatically backed up.
Microsoft Secure Score
Your Microsoft 365 admin portal includes a Secure Score — a running assessment of your security posture with specific, prioritised recommendations. Each recommendation shows the impact it would have on your score and the effort required to implement it. It's essentially a free security audit, updated in real time.
Log into admin.microsoft.com and search for "Secure Score". Look at the top recommendations — many take under 10 minutes to implement and significantly improve your security posture.
Getting the most from your subscription
The challenge with Microsoft 365 is that it evolves constantly — Microsoft adds features every month. Without someone actively managing your tenant, you'll always be behind. Our team monitors Microsoft 365 updates for all our clients and proactively enables beneficial features as they're released.
If you'd like a Microsoft 365 health check to see what you're missing, get in touch with our team today.