How to Align Microsoft 365 Licenses With Real-World Use
Microsoft 365 and Office 365 revolutionized productivity software by making core tools like Word, Excel, and Outlook available via cloud subscriptions. But with flexible licensing models spanning tenure, features, and device access, complexity prevails. Sales professionals require extensive analytics modules while HR teams need only basic email and storage. Without visibility into actual consumption patterns across such departments, overspending and underutilization are unavoidable. Reconciling allocated licenses against real-world usage is key for optimization.
Auditing Current Microsoft 365 Consumption
Performing regular usage audits identifies the perfect license volume and type mix needed for an organization’s unique roles and workloads. Dividing employees into categories like information workers, power users, and specialists means common themes in adoption emerge. Audit data may reveal certain product suites like suit some groups better.
This segmentation also enables fact-based targets for specific license quantities. Reviews determining low email engagement or storage capacity utilization help minimize certain licenses. Alternatively, high interests in Teams video meetings or Planner task management spotlight needs for premium upgrades. Companies like Opkalla that provide Microsoft 365 license managed services deliver the deepest visibility for this entire discovery process via centralized dashboards.
Guiding Employee Adoption of Microsoft 365 Capabilities
The most advanced Microsoft 365 capabilities like Power BI data modeling or Visio process mapping often remain siloed despite broad licensing. Expecting employees to organically learn and embrace the full Microsoft 365 suite rarely succeeds. Structured training programs aligned tightly to major job functions address this proactively.
Specialist instructors demo key features using real-world examples during workshops to resonate better. Breaking sessions across apps over multiple weeks also prevents overload. Furthermore, administrators should continue monitoring usage after training to validate application. Identifying consistently lagging products using analytics helps target new coaching opportunities or license reductions if needed. A continuous guided adoption approach ensures no licenses get squandered.
Standardizing Rules for Microsoft 365 License Allocation
Once usage patterns and optimal license volumes are apparent, establishing clear allocation policies and procedures prevents future mismatches. Common guidelines include prioritizing tool access only for active users, introducing expiration dates for those gone for extended leaves, and immediately blocking retired accounts.
Analytics solutions tracking logins, storage consumption, email engagement etc. help automate enforcement of these standards. Configuring alerts for pockets of low utilization or thresholds for deactivating stagnant accounts are examples. Some platforms even allow custom messages reminding inactive users to either increase usage or risk losing software access. Administrators can also leverage Microsoft’s own inactive accounts insights across Microsoft Entra ID and Exchange Online to stay compliant on allocations.
Accounting for Changes in Roles, Responsibilities and Headcounts
In large and dynamic organizations, getting a precise handle on Microsoft 365 consumption stays challenging as needs fluctuate. Supporting a fixed environment and only making incremental license adjustments yearly is easier but risky. What instead serves better is choosing managed services able to reveal trends around peak usage periods, feature popularity shifts, and surges in storage capacity needs monthly.
Administrators can now adjust licenses effectively, using data-driven insights instead of guesswork. If Viva Engage crowdsourcing engagements face declining interest over time, removing access counters waste. Alternatively, spikes in SharePoint or OneDrive activity may necessitate expanded access. Above all, viewing rich analytics via customized Microsoft 365 reporting dashboards enable educated alignments of allocated licenses.
Conclusion
Harnessing the abundance of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 features requires balance across several elements – understanding genuine workforce requirements, guiding adoption for unsure employees, automating policy enforcements, and monitoring fluctuations in consumption. Microsoft partners offering administration assistance through flexible Microsoft 365 license managed services dispel the complexity, however. With expert help, organizations finally align spending directly to usage.
