Making Microsoft E5 work for your business – a blog from Marathon’s CIO

Are you thinking about investing in Microsoft E5 for your business? Or have you already taken the plunge?

Office 365 E5 is a new cloud-based suite of Microsoft 365 productivity apps combined with advanced voice, analytics, security, and compliance services.

Marathon Managed Services CIO David McConnell gives his advice on how to make the investment work for you.

“Just like joining the gym, it’s the work you put in rather than signing on the dotted line, that gets you results when it comes to implementing the benefits of Microsoft E5,” David said.

His top tips include:

Review your licences strategically to map how your business needs and requirements can be met through E5.

Check for gaps and overlaps: will the licence suffice or do you need additional software? For example, the E5 compliance components may benefit organisations with “a hefty compliance burden,” and its audio conferencing, or video capabilities could reduce spend in other areas.

Create a plan to apply E5 to your business and involve key staff and users early in the process.

Where to start? Individual aspects of the E5 licence will be covered in future blogs but David’s top three areas of focus “to get the most bang from your buck” are:

  1. Secure your business with Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) which is becoming the “standard” to protect against cyber threats.
  2. Make the most of collaboration and the “comprehensive suite of collaboration tools that Microsoft has to offer,” from SharePoint to Teams.
  3. Use the force (the business intelligence) – E5 “supercharges” Microsoft’s Power Business Intelligence tools and draws data from many sources to help you answer key business questions.

Click here to read David’s blog in full.