Using Microsoft 365 Business Premium for Secure Remote Work
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is a comprehensive suite of MS cloud services, applications and security solutions that enable you to grow your business while providing the best possible environment for your team.
But how does Business Premium stand up to the pressures of operating in a secure remote workplace?
Working in a hybrid environment or entirely from home provides significant challenges to an organisation.
In this deep dive we explore:
· What Business Premium delivers for your remote workspace
· How it deploys its security procedures
· Whether it is suited to your business needs.
Business Premium delivers 4 Key Services
Real-Time Collaboration
Efficient and effective remote work requires a secure online network for both internal and external communication. Having online meetings with staff, clients or partners means that you need a service that works in real-time and is consistently up to date to ensure you and your team operate at peak efficiency.
A key application that comes with Business Premium is Microsoft Teams, which allows you to access files, chats and apps in a single space. Business Premium enables you to co-author files with your team with apps such as Word for real-time synchronisation and collaboration.
It also provides the means to schedule calls, screen share and participate in collaborative note during online meetings. High-quality video and audio with the ability to record and transcribe means that your organisation always remains in one-to-one communication no matter where your staff are.
Last but not least, the service enables real-time collaboration with external users such as clients or customers. Apps such as Teams mean you can easily set up meetings with external users that ensure security, ease of access and confidentiality anywhere online.
Enabling Remote Access and Identity Protection
Remotely accessing data and ensuring your staff are protected is essential to maintaining a remote work environment.
Business Premium operates with several options for multi-factor authentication (MFA) – such as applications and security keys – meaning that user identities are easy to verify and secure.
Premium also now includes Azure Active Directory which acts as the gateway to your work environment. It empowers you to control the conditional access to the applications provided by MS 365, enabling you to administer who has access to what applications and compartmentalise appropriate file access. It also automatically adds or removes users from security groups in your organisation, reducing and simplifying your IT management.
Remote desktop access is deployed through Windows Virtual Desktop. This allows you to simplify the management of your environment by allowing multi-sessions of Windows 10, optimising Office applications and support for Remote Desktop Services. All this is unified into a single Azure Portal to make managing remote work easy.
Protection Against Cyber Threats and Data Loss
Possibly the biggest worry when it comes to securing remote work is cybersecurity.
You want to protect your users against threats like phishing scams, safeguard your critical confidential business data, and monitor cloud app usage.
Business Premium uses Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) which scans emails and links in apps like Outlook or Teams to detect malicious software or attachments. It has several features that look for threats to your organisation from different avenues such as impersonation, malware, phishing attacks etc. Other features like Microsoft Defender can help protect Windows devices against online ransomware or dodgy websites.
Data Loss protection and ensuring your organisation retains vital and sensitive information is also a key component of ensuring that your remote work environment is secure. Business Premium implements Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies and procedures that automatically protect sensitive information such as credit card numbers.
You can also control email privileges such as what can be forwarded, printed or viewed by non-employees. Other tools like Azure Information Protection maintain control of your files and always ensure you can revoke access to key information in the event of an employee leaving your organisation.
In an always-online work environment, especially one operating remotely, it is important that cloud app usage is monitored. Cloud App Discovery allows you to maintain control and analyse app usage to set your priorities when it comes to access and minimise IT admin.
Secure and manage devices with ease
Managing the devices that access your organisation’s data regularly is a task that requires constant investment. Your ideal remote work environment means that you have the means to manage work dates on mobile devices, that those devices are secure, and that you can efficiently deploy those devices thanks to automation.
And Business Premium can provide that. Device management can be done through different methods that maintain conditional access to files and applications for your employees.
- Mobile Device Management (MDM) controls access to company-owned devices, making sure that the device itself is compliant with best practices and that you directly control the environment.
- If you operate a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, Mobile Application Management (MAM) controls which apps can be used to access emails or files on personal devices.
Business Premium also allows standardising policies across devices so that they auto-update with the latest security patches on Windows devices. You can also enforce Microsoft Defender against Malware.
Finally, Business Premium also deploys tools such as Autopilot which provides easy device set-up for new users, allows you to quickly deploy devices to integrate employees into your remote work environment, and automates app set-up to streamline and simplify your new device management process.
Secure your remote work environment
Business Premium, through its four key services, empowers you with the tools and know-how to quickly set up remote work systems that are secure and accessible.
Through real-time collaboration, remote access, cybersecurity, and device setup, MS 365 Business Premium is the sure bet to having your organisation secure its remote work environment.
Come chat with the Sleepless team today to discuss how Business Premium can help you grow your business: Request a call back – Sleepless – Ireland’s leading cloud and data services company.
