Advisory Service
Microsoft Advanced Integration
Maximise your Microsoft E5 investment with unified Defender, Intune, Sentinel, and Entra ID configuration—before fragmented tooling and wasted licenses become entrenched.
The Problem: What Goes Wrong Without Microsoft Optimisation
E5 License Underutilisation
Organisations pay for E5 but use only email and basic Office features. Defender XDR, Sentinel, Purview, and Entra ID Premium capabilities sit unused—while third-party tools duplicate functionality at additional cost.
Fragmented Security Stack
Multiple endpoint agents, SIEM platforms, and identity tools create alert fatigue, integration gaps, and operational complexity. Incident response requires correlating data across disconnected systems.
Sentinel Log Cost Explosion
Log ingestion costs spiral when data sources are onboarded without tiering strategy. High-volume, low-value logs consume budget while critical telemetry gaps remain.
Weak Conditional Access
Conditional access policies are misconfigured or absent. Users bypass MFA, unmanaged devices access sensitive resources, and location-based controls create friction without security benefit.
Failure Patterns We See
- An organisation pays $1.2M annually for E5 licenses but has not enabled Defender for Cloud Apps, Insider Risk, or Purview—features included in their license.
- Sentinel costs reach $85,000/month because all Azure Activity logs are ingested at Analytics tier instead of Basic.
- Intune deployment stalls at 40% because conditional access policies block legitimate devices without proper exception handling.
- A breach investigation takes 72 hours because Defender, Sentinel, and the third-party EDR produce conflicting timelines.
- The security team manages 4,000 alerts per week because tuning was never completed after initial deployment.
What Changes in 30–90 Days
E5 Capability Assessment
Complete analysis of licensed features versus deployed features with prioritised enablement roadmap.
Defender XDR Consolidation
Unified Defender deployment across endpoints, email, identity, and cloud apps with correlated alerting.
Sentinel Log Optimisation
Tiered ingestion strategy reducing costs 30–60% while improving detection coverage for critical data sources.
Conditional Access Baseline
Zero-trust conditional access policies enforcing MFA, device compliance, and risk-based access controls.
Intune Full Deployment
Complete device management with compliance policies, configuration baselines, and application deployment.
Security Posture Dashboard
Unified dashboard showing Microsoft Secure Score, compliance status, and threat landscape with executive reporting.
How We Work
Phase 1
Discovery & Assessment
- License and feature inventory
- Current security tool mapping
- Gap analysis against E5 capabilities
- Cost and duplication analysis
Phase 2
Architecture & Design
- Defender XDR target architecture
- Sentinel log tiering strategy
- Conditional access policy design
- Integration architecture
Phase 3
Defender Deployment
- Defender for Endpoint rollout
- Defender for Office 365 configuration
- Defender for Cloud Apps enablement
- Defender for Identity deployment
Phase 4
Sentinel & Entra
- Sentinel workspace configuration
- Log source onboarding
- Analytics rules and automation
- Entra ID conditional access deployment
Phase 5
Tuning & Validation
- Alert tuning and threshold adjustment
- False positive reduction
- Detection coverage validation
- Incident response testing
Phase 6
Transition & Operations
- Operational runbooks
- SOC team training
- Reporting and metrics setup
- Ongoing optimisation plan
Deliverables
- E5 Feature Utilisation Assessment
- Security Tool Consolidation Roadmap
- Defender XDR Architecture Document
- Sentinel Log Tiering Strategy
- Conditional Access Policy Set
- Intune Configuration Baselines
- Alert Tuning Documentation
- Incident Response Playbooks
- SOC Operational Runbooks
- Microsoft Secure Score Improvement Plan
- Executive Security Dashboard
- Training Materials and Knowledge Transfer
Timeline & Stakeholders
Typical Timeline
12–16 weeks for comprehensive E5 optimisation. Phased approaches available for specific workloads (Defender, Sentinel, or Intune only).
Stakeholder Engagement
- Executive Sponsor: CISO or CIO
- Security Operations: SOC manager, analysts
- IT Infrastructure: Endpoint, identity, cloud teams
- Procurement: License management, vendor relations
- Finance: Cost tracking and optimisation
Proof: Industry Examples
Commercial Real Estate
Property Management Group
A multi-property real estate company was paying for E5 plus three overlapping security tools. We consolidated to Defender XDR, optimised Sentinel ingestion (reducing costs by 47%), and retired two third-party products—saving $340,000 annually while improving detection coverage.
Healthcare
Regional Health Authority
A 12-hospital health authority had deployed Intune to only 23% of devices due to conditional access conflicts. We redesigned the policy set, implemented phased rollout with exception handling, and achieved 94% Intune coverage within 60 days—enabling consistent security baselines across all clinical and administrative devices.
What We Will Not Do
- Deploy without tuning: We do not enable Defender or Sentinel with default settings and declare success. Every deployment includes tuning and validation.
- Add tools to existing sprawl: We do not recommend new Microsoft capabilities without addressing existing tool overlap and consolidation opportunities.
- Ignore cost implications: We do not onboard Sentinel data sources without tiering strategy and budget alignment.
- Leave teams untrained: We do not complete implementations without knowledge transfer, runbooks, and operational handover.
Maximise Your Microsoft Investment
Request an assessment to understand your E5 utilisation and create a roadmap to unified, cost-effective security.