The Microsoft 365 administrative console is the out-of-the-box control panel used to manage all the various user accounts, licenses, and permissions for a variety of applications and subscription services. For the most part, this standard functionality is fine, especially for smaller businesses with a limited number of users. However, with larger enterprise organizations, Microsoft administration tasks can get very complicated, very quickly. This is because there isn’t just one admin center.
There are over a dozen Microsoft 365 admin centers that handle different applications and services. With so many admin centers spread across a company that could have hundreds or thousands of employees, handling all of the administrative tasks can become quite challenging for an IT department. Having an IT administrator waste countless hours logging in and out of various admin centers to grant access and privileges throughout the day is inefficient and time-consuming.
It’s time to re-imagine the highly fragmented Microsoft 365 admin interface. What if there was one unified dashboard that allowed an IT manager to control all of the administrative functions for Microsoft for the entire organization? What if there was one unified dashboard that could improve efficiency, control, and security?
The good news is that there already is one. And here’s how it can deliver more efficiency, control, and security for your Microsoft 365 solution.
In its 2021 Market Guide for SaaS Management Platform, Gartner stated that, “As SaaS usage grows, so does the number of disparate SaaS administrative consoles and associated open browser tabs that IT administrators must traverse to remain abreast of the settings, status, and usage of each SaaS app. This manual process is highly error-prone. It renders administrative tasks, such as license or entitlement assignment for new users, and revocation for those leaving the organization or changing roles, as well as creation/modification of security groups and work stream collaboration spaces, inefficient, and cumbersome.”
With the out-of-the-box Microsoft 365 admin center, an IT manager is required to be a specialist in all the different applications Microsoft offers. Each interface varies as to how you gather data and build reports. Most of the processes are PowerShell driven and manually intensive and prone to errors.
Think about all the applications included with Microsoft 365. Azure Active Directory, Office, Teams, Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive all have their own admin portal. This means that for every new employee that starts or everyone that leaves, an IT administrator must go into all of the different applications that person uses and grant or deny access. For a large organization, that can become quite tedious and time-consuming.
A single interface allows IT to administer all M365 apps in one consolidated portal. Not only does this save time and money, but it also reduces the chance for human error and optimizes your IT staff’s performance.
When you have an organization that is spread across different continents and time zones, one consolidated admin portal and dashboard allows you to control all of your onboarding, offboarding, and reporting while giving you a birds’ eye view within a single pane of glass.
Siloed data can also be a problem with multiple interfaces. Having access to all the information in your entire organization from one console allows you to make better, quicker decisions. Adding a layer between IT administrators and Microsoft 365 that replaces all of the various admin centers with one interface provides IT teams with the power they need to manage Microsoft 365 with more control. They can now administer all M365 apps in a single portal. Imagine being able to manage users across all applications and make changes with one single click.
Given the fact that Microsoft 365 is often a company’s biggest software expense, having a single interface can also help you control costs, as inefficiencies and wasteful spending quickly come into view. When you have a clear vision of your licenses and usages, it’s easier for you to make the necessary changes to maximize productivity and enhance your overall return on investment.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed how we work forever. With more and more people working remotely or in some sort of hybrid model, logins are happening all over the place, and not just in highly-secured firewall-protected office environments. That makes it much easier for hackers to try to access your network.
Not only are people working in many different places, but they’re also using many different devices. Home computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices are all ways employees' access and utilize Microsoft applications.
With so many different users, devices, and applications within Microsoft 365 to track and monitor, admins also have to protect against potential phishing attacks from cyber criminals who send out emails that look like they’re coming directly from IT. When there’s a different admin panel for each application, this can quickly become a daunting task.
Consolidating the 365-admin login to one single portal is like having a NORAD-style war room where you can monitor all incoming attacks at once and stop them in their tracks.
While the Microsoft 365 admin console may work just fine for small businesses, larger enterprises need a more powerful alternative. Managing hundreds or thousands of employees scattered all over the globe can become way too confusing and complicated when you have dozens of admin centers - each with very different approaches - for all the various Microsoft applications being used.
With all the money you’re spending on your Microsoft 365 subscription, you want to make sure you’re maximizing your ROI. If you want to improve overall efficiency and security while gaining better control and visibility, you need an alternative to the standard admin console.
CoreView eliminates the need to access all of these different admin portals and gives you total visibility into your entire Microsoft 365 environment. On average, this can save a single admin 48 hours per month. That’s more than 25% of their time!
If you’re tired of the inefficiency and frustration of managing your Microsoft 365 tenant and are looking for the right alternative, we can help. CoreView’s powerful suite of tools lets you administrate, analyze, automate, optimize, secure, and audit your Microsoft 365 environment, all from one single interface. Schedule a demo today.