Executive Focus: Microsoft 365 Adoption, Expansion

• Adopting Microsoft 365 simplifies management and deployment but comes with often-overlooked costs and dependencies.
• Data security and management features help compliance with regulations and ease global deployments, but they do not release organizations from liability.
• A faster update cadence increases privacy and regulatory audit risk and often results in unplanned and unbudgeted IT projects.
• Packaging complexity and dependencies often cause organizations to overbuy and underestimate the annual cost of Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 is a line of desktop software and cloud services for document authoring, collaboration, and advanced client security and management. It includes the Windows desktop client and Office 365, an older line of software and services that includes the Office desktop suite and collaboration services such as Exchange Online. (For an overview of Microsoft 365, see the sidebar “Executive Focus: Microsoft 365 Overview”.)

Most Microsoft customers adopt or expand the use of Microsoft 365 services hoping to reduce on-premises IT management, improve security, and help users collaborate. However, executives should not expect substantial cost savings, as Microsoft 365 brings new IT management and connectivity requirements that offset savings. To optimize investments, customers should provide time for their teams to evaluate requirements to properly estimate migration costs and understand Microsoft 365’s complex packaging and pricing structures to avoid overbuying.