Tag - Microsoft 365 Business

Cloud vs. On-prem and the future of Managed Services

Is the on-prem model (e.g. legacy AD with file shares, Windows Server-based apps, etc.) 'better' in some cases than SaaS alternatives like Microsoft 365, GSuite, Ping, Okta, Salesforce, DropBox, or whatever? In the SMB space, I really struggle to advocate for on-prem anymore, and I mean REALLY struggle. And that's...
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Deploying Conditional Access Policies via PowerShell

There is a new GitHub repository available from Microsoft: Manage Conditional Access policies like code. Similar to the infamous Intune samples repo from which I and many others have built their automated Intune setup scripts for new tenants, this repo is replete with the resources that you need for accomplishing...
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SMB Ignite stuff, and other news

Big week here at ITProMentor.com. Ignite is happening, so that's always fun. Currently hanging out with the Re365 crew to watch the keynote this morning! My own Ignite session, which I recorded with Microsoft's David Bjurman-Birr, is also live now, and posted in a few places, but most notably ebedded within this...
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A simpler Conditional Access baseline

Some folks have written to me about the "complexity" of my Conditional Access guide and were hoping to find something a bit simpler. This surprised me, and initially I shrugged it off. But I have heard this feedback more than once now, so I decided to take this thought experiment...
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Behold: The Power of Sensitivity Labels

Even though some people are aware of the concepts of Data Classification and tools such as Microsoft 365 Sensitivity Labels, I do not think that many of us out there have yet grasped the full implications, or taken the long view, so to speak. Note: this is a longer read....
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Is “Best Practices” a myth?

I often find myself musing over this question these days. Granted, I actually do publish something called The Microsoft 365 Best Practices Checklists--but really these are more like recommendations. In fact, I recently updated them to include governance decisions around collaboration (e.g. affecting apps such as OneDrive for Business, Teams...
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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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Implementing the ACSC Essential 8 with Microsoft 365

I have had this project on my backburner for a while, and I finally got around to knocking it out: a special request from a reader in the Land Down Under--Australia! This is a free publication, entitled Implementing the ACSC Essential 8 using Microsoft 365. Background The Australia Cyber Security Center...
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Managed Services Opportunities within Microsoft 365

I still regularly receive questions from independent IT consultants as well as Managed Services Providers about Microsoft 365 in relation to "regular maintenance" tasks and the like, which can be translated into Managed Services opportunity. Everyone intuitively understands that something like this is possible, but they do not know where...
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