Microsoft 365 ManagementUsers. Email. Teams. Security.
Licenses Optimized. Data Backed Up.

Active Microsoft 365 management includes: user and identity lifecycle management — provisioning new users before start dates with the correct licenses, group memberships, and role-based permissions; deprovisioning departed employees on their last day with license reclaim; Exchange Online administration — mailbox management, shared mailboxes, distribution lists, mail flow rules, aliases, and email delivery troubleshooting; Teams and SharePoint governance — team and channel structure, permissions management, external sharing controls, and archiving of completed project spaces; M365 security hardening — Conditional Access policies, Defender for Office 365 configuration, Purview DLP where applicable, and Secure Score improvement as a tracked metric; license management — monthly license audit, departed employee reclaim, and tier right-sizing; and dedicated M365 backup — Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams in a separate backup repository with point-in-time recovery.

No — and this is the most important Microsoft 365 misconception to understand. Microsoft's shared responsibility model explicitly states that Microsoft is responsible for maintaining the availability and infrastructure of the Microsoft 365 platform, and the customer is responsible for their data. Microsoft provides limited data protection features — the recycle bin, version history, and soft-delete — but these are not backup. They have limited retention windows (typically 30–93 days depending on the setting) and don't protect against all data loss scenarios: a ransomware attack that syncs encrypted files through OneDrive overwrites the clean versions in cloud storage; an accidentally deleted SharePoint site can be permanently lost if it's not recovered quickly; a departed employee's mailbox disappears when the account is deleted unless the data is preserved. Gradius deploys dedicated M365 backup that captures Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams in a separate backup repository — enabling recovery of any item, folder, or mailbox to any point in time within the retention period.

Microsoft Secure Score is a continuous assessment of your Microsoft 365 tenant's security configuration — it evaluates hundreds of settings across identity (Entra ID), email (Exchange Online and Defender for Office 365), collaboration (SharePoint and Teams), and device management (Intune). Each setting that meets Microsoft's security recommendations contributes to the score, and each gap reduces it. A Secure Score of 30% — common in unmanaged tenants — means 70% of available security configurations are not in place. Specific gaps at low Secure Scores typically include: MFA not enforced on all accounts, legacy authentication protocols still enabled (which allow attackers to bypass MFA), email security features not activated, SharePoint external sharing not governed, and admin accounts without Privileged Identity Management controls. Gradius manages Secure Score improvement as a tracked metric, reporting quarterly on score progress and the specific configurations that were implemented to improve it.

License savings vary by organization, but the components are predictable. Departed employee licenses: organizations with 30–100 users typically find 2–8 active licenses assigned to departed employees — each saving $12–$57 per month depending on the license plan. Over-licensed users: employees assigned Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E-series licenses who only use email and basic Teams features may be right-sized to lower plans, saving $15–$30 per user per month for those affected. Under-utilized add-ons: licenses for Microsoft 365 add-ons (audio conferencing, Power BI, advanced compliance) that were purchased but aren't used. In a first audit, organizations with 30–100 users commonly find $300–$1,500 in monthly license savings — enough to offset a meaningful portion of the M365 management cost. Gradius provides the savings estimate before engagement begins so the ROI is clear.

No long-term lock-ins. We offer month-to-month and annual agreements. Organizations stay with Gradius M365 management because licenses are clean, Secure Score improves over time, users are provisioned and deprovisioned correctly, M365 data is backed up, and Teams and SharePoint stay organized. The improvements are visible and measurable. We earn the renewal every month through performance.

We serve 12+ industries in NJ, NY & CT including healthcare, legal, financial services, construction, manufacturing, real estate, insurance, architecture, professional services, restaurants, nonprofits, and general business — each with specialized compliance and operational expertise built in.