Hardened Microsoft 365 for Melbourne SMEs
Microsoft 365 Support That Goes Beyond Basic Reseller Help
Why Cheap M365 Resellers Don’t Actually Support You
Most Melbourne businesses on Microsoft 365 bought their licences from a reseller and assumed support came with them. It doesn’t. When Conditional Access blocks legitimate logins, when DKIM fails and your invoices end up in spam, when Intune profiles refuse to apply, when SharePoint permissions cascade out of control — the reseller’s answer is usually “raise a ticket with Microsoft”.
TechAssist runs M365 the way Microsoft actually recommends. Hardened tenants, properly configured identity, real DLP, sensible licensing — with engineers you can ring directly when something breaks.
How Our Microsoft 365 Service Works
Three steps. Audit your current tenant. Harden it the way Microsoft actually recommends. Manage it ongoing so configuration drift doesn’t undo the work.
01
M365 Audit
Free 60-minute review of your tenant. We check identity, MFA coverage, Conditional Access, Intune, DKIM/DMARC, SharePoint sprawl, audit logging, licence allocation. Clear written report. No obligation.
02
Harden
Two-to-three-week deployment. Roll out Conditional Access policies, deploy Intune device baselines, configure DLP rules, harden email security, clean up shared mailboxes, right-size licences. Tested staged rollout, zero disruption.
03
Manage
Ongoing M365 management. Helpdesk for staff issues, monitoring of identity events, regular tenant reviews, M365 backup (your data isn’t Microsoft’s problem if it’s deleted), licensing optimisation as headcount changes.
Eight Areas We Harden in Your M365 Tenant
Eight foundational hardening areas. All eight included in your monthly plan. No surprise “security uplift project” quotes for the basics.
1
Identity & Conditional Access
MFA on every account. Conditional Access policies for risky logins, country-based restrictions, compliant-device enforcement. Identity is the new perimeter.
2
Intune Device Management
Endpoint configuration, encryption enforcement, app deployment, compliance reporting. Devices that don’t meet baseline can’t access M365.
3
Email Security (DKIM, DMARC, SPF)
Properly configured DKIM, DMARC and SPF records so your invoices stop landing in spam and spoofed emails stop reaching your staff. Reviewed quarterly.
4
SharePoint Governance
Sensible site provisioning, permission cleanup, external sharing policies, guest access controls. SharePoint that doesn’t become a permissions nightmare.
5
Teams Security
External access controls, guest policies, app permission management, sensitive label enforcement on chats and channels.
6
OneDrive DLP
Data Loss Prevention rules tuned to detect Australian patterns — TFNs, Medicare numbers, credit cards, ABNs. Block, prompt or audit before sensitive data leaves.
7
Audit Logging
Unified audit log enabled and retained for at least 90 days. Tracking who did what across the tenant. Standard for any business that may face an audit.
8
M365 Data Backup
Microsoft doesn’t back up your M365 data. Deleted Sharepoint sites, OneDrive files and mailbox content can be lost forever. Independent backup is mandatory.
Four Levels of M365 Support
Four tiers covering reseller-only through full enterprise management. All managed tiers include the eight hardening areas plus helpdesk and M365 backup.
I — Reseller (where most start)
I — Reseller (where most start)
Licences from a reseller, basic break-fix only. No identity hardening, no DLP, no Conditional Access. Cheap, but you’re exposed.
II — Co-Managed M365
II — Co-Managed M365
You keep your reseller for licensing. We layer on hardening, monitoring, support, M365 backup. The most common upgrade path.
III — Managed M365
III — Managed M365
We become your CSP and support provider. Full tenant management, all eight hardening areas, helpdesk under SLA, vCIO M365 strategy.
IV — Enterprise M365
IV — Enterprise M365
For 75+ staff. Advanced compliance, e-Discovery, advanced threat protection, custom DLP and sensitivity labels, monthly tenant reviews.
Beyond Basic M365
Most resellers configure M365 to the bare minimum needed for the licence to work. That leaves you exposed to phishing, credential theft, accidental data sharing and configuration drift.
We harden tenants the way Microsoft actually recommends in their Security Defaults documentation — properly. Conditional Access, Intune, DLP, audit logging, sensible licence allocation. The work most resellers won’t do because it isn’t free.
Stop Phishing and Credential Theft Properly
Over 90% of cyber attacks start with email. MFA alone isn’t enough — attackers use MFA fatigue, OAuth consent grants, and session hijacks to bypass it.
Hardened M365 means phishing-resistant MFA, Conditional Access policies that detect impossible travel, ATP/Defender for email, banner warnings on external messages, and DKIM/DMARC properly configured so spoofed emails don’t reach your staff. Defence in depth, not security theatre.
Reduce Licensing Waste
Most M365 tenants we audit are paying for licences they don’t use. E5 licences for staff who only need Business Standard. Frontline licences forgotten when staff move to office roles. Shared mailboxes given full M365 licences when they don’t need them.
We do quarterly licence right-sizing reviews. Most clients save $80–$200 per user per year — often enough to fund the management fee outright.
What Melbourne SMEs Get from Hardened M365
Cyber Insurance Ready
Insurer renewal questionnaires get answered. MFA, EDR, DLP, audit logs, incident response — all the controls insurers actually ask about, documented and active.
Real DLP
Properly tuned DLP rules detecting Australian patterns. Sensitive data prompted, blocked or audited before it leaves the tenant.
Audit Logs You Can Actually Use
90+ day retention, centralised, queryable. When the question is “who did this and when”, we have the answer in minutes, not days.
Faster Issue Resolution
Problems traced to root cause, not patched at the surface. Conditional Access misconfigured? Fixed properly. Intune profile breaking apps? Diagnosed and corrected.
Lower Total M365 Cost
Licence right-sizing, retired shared mailboxes, removed redundant add-ons. Most clients save more than the management fee.
vCIO M365 Strategy
Quarterly reviews tie M365 decisions to business goals. New hires, M&A, hybrid work changes — M365 evolves with the business.
Read the Office 365 Security Hardening Guide
Our practical guide covers the configuration changes Microsoft actually recommends, what each one does, and why most tenants don’t have them.
Ready for M365 That Actually Works for You?
Call 1300 028 324 or book a free 60-minute M365 audit. We’ll review your tenant against the eight hardening areas and tell you honestly what’s in place, what’s missing, and what we’d fix first.
Related Essential Eight Resources
Read our comprehensive Essential Eight guide for a detailed breakdown of all eight controls and how to implement them in your organisation.
Our IT audit service assesses your current maturity level across all eight strategies, and our Security Operations Centre monitors for the threats these controls help prevent.
TechAssist integrates Essential Eight compliance into our cyber security services and managed IT plans. For strategic guidance on your compliance journey, our Virtual CIO service builds a prioritised roadmap tailored to your business.
Talk to Us About Your M365 Tenant
Contact TechAssist today for a no-obligation Essential Eight assessment. We’ll evaluate your current maturity level and build a practical roadmap to compliance.