An Office 365 assessment is a structured review of how your business uses Microsoft 365, which many people still call Office 365. It looks at your users, licences, security settings, email setup, file storage, collaboration tools and overall configuration.
The aim is simple. It helps you understand what is working well, what could be improved, where money may be wasted and where your business could be exposed to unnecessary risk.
For many businesses, Microsoft 365 grows quietly in the background. New users are added, licences are changed, Teams channels are created, SharePoint sites are built and files are shared internally and externally. Over time, your setup can become harder to manage.
That is why an assessment is useful. It gives you a clearer picture of your current environment and helps you make better decisions about security, cost, productivity and ongoing IT support and management.
Why does an Office 365 assessment matter?
Microsoft 365 often sits at the centre of your business. It holds emails, files, calendars, Teams conversations, shared documents and sensitive company information. If it is not reviewed properly, small issues can turn into costly problems.
A good Office 365 assessment can help you:
- Identify security gaps before they become serious
- Review whether users have the right level of access
- Reduce unused or unsuitable licence costs
- Improve email protection and account security
- Check SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams permissions
- Support compliance and data protection
- Plan improvements in a clear and practical way
Cyber security is a major reason to take this seriously. The UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 found that 43% of UK businesses identified a cyber breach or attack in the previous 12 months. Phishing remained the most common type of breach or attack, affecting 38% of businesses.
That matters because many phishing attacks are designed to steal Microsoft 365 login details. Once an attacker has access to one account, they may be able to read emails, reset passwords, access files or send convincing messages to your clients and suppliers.
What does an Office 365 assessment usually include?
An Office 365 assessment should be more than a quick look at your admin portal. It should be a proper review of the areas that affect your day-to-day operations, security and costs.
A typical assessment may include:
- User account review
- Licence usage analysis
- Mailbox and email security checks
- Multi-factor authentication review
- SharePoint and OneDrive permissions review
- Teams’ configuration review
- Device access checks
- Conditional access review
- Backup and recovery considerations
- Retention and compliance settings
This can sit naturally alongside wider cloud services and Office 365 support, especially if you want recommendations to be turned into practical improvements.
Security: finding the gaps before attackers do
Many businesses assume Microsoft 365 is secure by default. Microsoft provides strong tools, but those tools still need to be configured correctly for your business.
An assessment may check whether multi-factor authentication is in place, whether admin accounts are properly protected, whether legacy authentication has been restricted and whether risky sign-ins are being monitored.
It may also review email authentication settings such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC. These can help reduce spoofing and impersonation, where attackers try to send emails that appear to come from your business.
This is closely linked to anti phishing support, because email remains one of the easiest ways for attackers to reach your team. The latest government survey also found that phishing was considered the most disruptive breach or attack by 69% of businesses and charities that experienced a breach or attack.
If you are already worried about suspicious emails, account compromise or unusual login activity, an assessment can help you understand whether your setup is giving users enough protection.
Licences: are you paying for what you actually use?
Microsoft 365 licensing can become messy over time. You may have inactive users still assigned to paid licences, staff on plans they do not need or teams using features that could be managed more efficiently.
An Office 365 assessment can help you review:
- Which licences are assigned
- Which users are inactive
- Which features are actually being used
- Whether some plans are unsuitable
- Whether costs could be reduced safely
This can have a direct financial impact. For example, if you are paying £20 per user per month for 10 unused or unsuitable licences, that could cost your business £2,400 a year without adding value.
The goal is not simply to cut costs. It is to make sure your Microsoft 365 setup matches how your team works.
Permissions: who can access what?
Permissions are one of the most important parts of an Office 365 assessment. Staff move roles, people leave the business, external users are invited into documents and old sharing links are often forgotten.
An assessment should help you understand who has access to key files, folders, mailboxes, Teams channels and SharePoint sites.
It should help answer questions such as:
- Do former staff still have access?
- Are external users still connected to files?
- Are sensitive folders open to too many people?
- Are admin rights limited to the right users?
- Are sharing settings too relaxed?
This is especially important for businesses that handle financial records, contracts, client data, HR files or confidential commercial information.
If wider protection is needed, security services can help strengthen your environment across users, devices and systems.
Email protection and account compromise
Email is often the main target in a Microsoft 365 environment. A single compromised mailbox can create serious problems, especially if attackers use it to send fake invoices, intercept payment conversations or target your contacts.
An Office 365 assessment may review spam filtering, mailbox forwarding rules, safe links, safe attachments and suspicious sign-in activity. It can also check whether users have risky settings that could make account compromise harder to spot.
If stolen credentials are a concern, dark web monitoring may also help. This can identify whether business email addresses, passwords or other company-related details have appeared in exposed data sources.
For businesses that want a deeper view of technical risk, network penetration testing can help uncover weaknesses beyond Microsoft 365 itself.
Backup, recovery and business continuity
Microsoft 365 includes useful recovery and retention features, but you still need to understand how your business would respond if something important was deleted, encrypted, compromised or lost.
An assessment can review how your business handles deleted emails, deleted files, retention policies and recovery processes. It can also help you understand whether your current setup is enough for your operational needs.
This matters because downtime has a cost. Even a few hours without email, files or Teams access can slow projects, delay client responses and create pressure across the business.
If you need support planning improvements, consulting can help you make sensible decisions based on cost, risk and business priorities.
Devices and user access
Your Microsoft 365 environment is only as secure as the devices and accounts used to access it. Laptops, desktops, phones and tablets all matter.
An assessment may look at whether devices are managed, whether staff can access company data from personal devices and whether conditional access rules are suitable. It may also highlight outdated systems that make your environment harder to protect.
Where improvements are needed, hardware and software support can help your business choose and manage suitable equipment.
For remote, hybrid or multi-location teams, it is also worth reviewing whether users get consistent support wherever they work. This may connect with global support and international projects or European IT support if your business operates across different locations.
When should you book an Office 365 assessment?
You do not need to wait for a problem before reviewing your Microsoft 365 setup. In many cases, it is better to assess it before something goes wrong.
You may benefit from an assessment if:
- Your business has grown quickly
- You have not reviewed licences recently
- Staff work remotely or across multiple sites
- You are worried about phishing
- You have had staff join or leave
- You use Teams, SharePoint or OneDrive heavily
- You are planning a migration
- You need stronger security controls
If your business is moving from another platform, migrations support can help make the process smoother and reduce disruption.
What should you receive at the end?
A useful Office 365 assessment should give you clear findings, not confusing technical notes. You should understand what needs attention, why it matters and what should happen next.
The final output may include:
- A summary of current risks
- Licence saving opportunities
- Security recommendations
- Priority actions
- Configuration improvements
- Compliance considerations
- Longer-term improvement plans
The best assessments are practical. They do not just point out problems. They help you decide what to fix first, what can wait and where your budget will have the greatest impact.
Ready to review your Office 365 setup?
An Office 365 assessment gives you a clearer view of your Microsoft 365 environment. It helps you protect your business, reduce waste, improve user access and make everyday work more reliable.
If you are unsure whether your current setup is secure, cost-effective or properly configured, Northern Star can help you take a closer look.
Get in touch with Northern Star today to arrange your Office 365 assessment and give your business a more secure, efficient and reliable Microsoft 365 environment.
