Opinion

My opinion on Microsoft Threat Protection for the SMB

Since I released my guide on Microsoft 365 E5 Security and Microsoft Threat Protection, I have been getting a lot of questions and comments about my stance on the use of these products for SMB customers. I left it too neutral, I guess, in the original publication. So, let me...
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Yes, you really can let go: Microsoft 365 Groups and Teams creation policy, revisited

I have to laugh because this is still such a seemingly controversial idea. "Should users be allowed to create their own Teams?" I have written about this topic many times before, but I still get the best comments about it from non-believers. The real issue is that these folks have...
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How do you deal with the unreasonable storage limits in SharePoint Online?!

I had a great question come in from a long-time reader recently: As I begin my journey to move clients from on-prem file servers to SharePoint/Teams, I keep getting hung up on the storage allocation.  1TB for an organization + 10GB/user is so far behind the times of what other vendors...
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We need “MDATP Lite,” not full MDATP, in order to complete Defender’s value proposition in the SMB–and this is what it looks like

TL;DR: Just give me the device risk level with a description of "why" so I can follow up with potentially at-risk users. You can keep Advanced Hunting, etc. So many people I talk to in the SMB community think that they want MDATP. Well, it is available now as an independent...
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What is the biggest opportunity for IT Service Providers and Consultants today, in light of COVID-19?

I got this question from a reader named Rob the other day. The full question is actually a bit more detailed and revealed a lot more about the author of the question--so I've only included an abridged version that pulls out the heart of the inquiry that I'm addressing here...
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Migration paths to Microsoft 365: Devices before data??

I have literally written the book on this topic, but one question I did not directly address is the order in which you might migrate the various workloads from traditional infrastructure to Microsoft 365. First, just know that you can tackle your migration in whatever order works best for you, but...
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The importance of starting with OneDrive

I am going to make an argument that OneDrive is the most important application for you to focus on when starting a new migration of files to Microsoft 365. Not Teams, and not SharePoint. OneDrive. I recommend starting here for a variety of reasons--and maybe not all of the ones...
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Why you should take a real hard look at upgrading from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 this year

Readers of this blog are probably already familiar with the differences between Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans. But I still run into plenty of folks out there who think these are the same thing, or who believe this is for "cloud only" customers, and there are still others who...
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In preview now: A simpler protection framework for Teams and other Group-connected SharePoint sites

Microsoft has previously published a framework for protecting Teams. There is another very much like it for SharePoint. The goal was to create some recommendations that "balance security with ease of collaboration." Image credit: Microsoft It is a fine balance indeed. The most interesting feature of this framework is that Microsoft...
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