The use of Microsoft 365 products — from Office 365, Teams, Skype, Exchange, OneDrive, to SharePoint — is growing in companies worldwide. Although many SaaS management vendors already feature utilization analytics for their products, a deeper, more granular understanding of expanding Microsoft 365 environments is necessary for ongoing value realization.
It’s well documented that many organizations waste up to 30% of their SaaS spend. Excess licenses or usage account for nearly half of this waste, while overlapping services contribute almost 30%. As businesses scale Microsoft 365 usage, these issues will grow more severe if ignored.
For IT leaders wishing to mitigate these problems and unlock savings and optimization opportunities, the LeanIX Microsoft 365 Advanced Optimization Module for SaaS Management Platform can provide complete visibility into one of the world’s most popular software platforms.
More transparency for Microsoft 365 admins
Like SaaS Management Platform's Okta integration, this module will similarly provide IT and finance leaders with analytics and rich data on Microsoft 365 users and licenses. Users can negotiate Microsoft agreement and streamline answers to questions like the following with this information:
- How many employees use Microsoft 365 products
- How many users are active
- How do employees use specific apps
- What does daily usage look like
- How many licenses are available vs. how many are activated
- When was the last time a user was active
- Which license(s) does the user have or own
- Do employees follow external file sharing policies
How detailed user information adds real value
Here are a few examples of how module insights improve SaaS management efforts:- Find users that received licenses but haven’t activated them; remind inactive users to activate licenses, or reduce/disable the used licenses
- Track usage for specific products and determine if users can downgrade or switch license type (e.g., look at users with E5 licenses and check their OneDrive usage, determine if they are over-licensed and if an E3 license could suffice)
- Determine if ex-employees still have active licenses and/or access to confidential data; improve deprovisioning efforts and harden enterprise security
- Learn whether employees follow company file-sharing policies; see exactly who is sharing files externally and how often
“We see a real need for an in-depth Microsoft integration. This module unlocks discovery and fine-tuning capabilities straight from the platform. Observe trends, collaborate, and improve SaaS value with a fidelity that the Microsoft platform itself simply doesn’t offer.” Jost Novljan, Director of Engineering at LeanIX
What to expect with the Microsoft 365 Advanced Optimization Module
To recap, here are just a few of the benefits the integration module provides for existing LeanIX (SMP) customers:
- Identify all Microsoft 365 product users
- Understand which users are active
- Discover how employees use Microsoft 365 products (daily usage analytics)
- Uncover license inventory for every product suite (available vs. activated)
- Gain insight into users’ activity and license types
- Simplify management with an aggregate view of licenses
Before optimizing licenses, make sure you first understand the Microsoft 365 license types.
