Is your Microsoft 365 environment secure and under control? And do you know what has changed in your environment over the last few years? 

The Microsoft 365 environment is at the core of modern work. It contains emails, files, chats, and much more. Increasingly, the environment also includes AI solutions, the easiest of which to use is the pre-integrated Microsoft Copilot.  

However, one thing is easily forgotten: regular review of the environment.

When an environment has been in use for a longer period of time, it inevitably accumulates new users, groups, access rights, and various settings. Some of them are still necessary, some may not be anymore. In addition, exceptions or old configurations that no one has checked for a while can easily remain in use. There may also have been personnel changes on the administrator side, meaning some settings might have been forgotten or left completely undone.  

An audit provides a clear overview all at once and helps to understand the actual condition of your current M365 environment.  

With over 300* checkpoints, we can assess in a data-driven way and ensure that security, manageability, and efficient utilization are genuinely working. 

What is a Microsoft 365 Audit? 

A Microsoft 365 Audit is a comprehensive assessment of the Microsoft 365 environment conducted by an architect.

The audit reviews, for example, identity management, Entra ID settings, MFA policies, Teams and SharePoint sharing settings, information protection, and Copilot readiness.

The purpose is not to find culprits or point out who made a setting incorrectly. It is more important to get a clear picture of where things stand:

• What things are in order?

• Where are the risks or deficiencies?

• Which things should be fixed first?

• What should be developed in the longer term?

1. Access rights have accumulated over the years

In many companies, Microsoft 365 was originally adopted for a significantly smaller number of users and simpler needs than what the environment serves today. 

In certain situations, it can be difficult to tell who has access to what and why. 

During an audit, you may encounter, for example: 

• Old guest users 

• Unused groups 

• Extra licenses 

• Unnecessarily broad SharePoint permissions 

• Teams sharing that is not sufficiently restricted 

• Or even security vulnerabilities caused by permissions 

Not all of these mean an immediate problem. However, they easily increase costs and raise risks if the permissions are no longer needed or their justification is unknown.

2. MFA is enabled – but does it apply to everyone?

In many organizations, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is already in use. That is good, but simply enabling MFA does not tell the whole story. 

The environment may contain, for example: 

• administrators whose protection is not at a sufficient level 

• old service accounts 

• user groups that are not covered by MFA policies 

• old or overlapping Conditional Access configurations 

In the audit, identity protection, sign-ins, MFA policies, and potential exceptions are examined as a whole. This makes it easier to see if current practices are truly up to date or if there are areas left in the environment that require attention or cause challenges for users trying to access the systems.

3. Teams and SharePoint sharing settings can surprise you

One of Microsoft 365's strengths is that it is easy to share information and collaborate with external parties.  

At the same time, however, it is worth pausing for a moment to consider one question: 

Do we know for sure what information can be shared with outsiders from our organization and under what conditions? 

The audit reviews, for example: 

• guest access 

• external sharing settings 

• access permissions 

• file management 

These are precisely the areas where things you might not have thought about in daily work can come to light. The settings may have been in place for years, even though their functionality or appropriateness has not been reviewed since.

4. Information protection does not always keep up with business changes

The information processed by a company is constantly changing. Customer data, contracts, project materials, and financial data move daily across various Microsoft 365 services. 

At the same time, requirements related to information protection are also changing. 

The audit can examine, for example: 

• DLP protections 

• retention policies 

• sensitivity labels 

• compliance settings and readiness 

The goal is to determine whether the practices still align with business needs and whether critical information is sufficiently protected.

5. Copilot is of interest, but is the environment ready?

Microsoft Copilot is currently of interest to many organizations. Before deploying it, however, it is worth looking at the condition of your Microsoft 365 environment first. 

One key question is:

What could Copilot see with the current access rights and data management practices? 

If access rights or information sharing are not managed properly, there may be information in the environment that is not meant to be widely visible. Copilot does not change user permissions on its own, but it can make existing information easier to find. 

Therefore, Copilot readiness should be assessed as part of the Microsoft 365 Audit. At the same time, we can evaluate, for example, data management, access rights, and security policies, and identify issues that should be addressed before a wider rollout.

What does a Microsoft 365 Audit give you?

After a well-executed audit, the organization will have at its disposal: 

• a comprehensive current state analysis of the Microsoft 365 environment 

• expert assessment of over 300 settings 

• a report on key findings 

• prioritized risks and deficiencies 

• a concrete development plan 

• an expert-led review of the results 

The report provides valuable information about the state of the environment, but ultimately the most important thing is to get an answer to one key question: do we genuinely know what condition our Microsoft 365 environment is in?  

Contact us and let's arrange a meeting to map out your needs.