Getting Started with Microsoft 365 Business

Owned by
Jodie Miners
Last updated: May 06, 2021
4 min read

I have Microsoft 365 Business Premium. I have upgraded from the regular M365 E3 licences. It is totally crap that you have to pay extra for security, but both Microsoft and Google do it.

I was already set up on M365 and have my laptop connected to my “Work” account, and already had Defender, and Office installed on my Laptop. Get some help with this bit. I use Your IT - even though they are based in Brisbane they do things virtually and do a great job.

Note I have both GSuite and Microsoft 365 because I work for clients that have one or the other or both, and it’s important for me to work how my clients work. But for your business, you may have GSuite because GMail is the superior email solution but need M365 because you create complex documents in Word, or even the most simple but important spreadsheets that you really need Excel for rather than Google Sheets.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business-video/setup-overview?view=o365-worldwide

The video on this page seems simple, but it is completely overly simplistic.

The steps are:

I had already done 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8.

Step 1 to 3 - Basic Setup

  • First you buy the licence, and assign them and install the Office apps on your computer (or skip this step).

  • You can go through the steps here if you want to try this on your own, but I really recommend getting help.

Step 4 - Threat Protection

  • “Then you’ll enable Threat Protection and Data Loss Protection”. What is this, and why do we need it, and how do we do it?

    • Protect you from clicking links or opening files that have malicious content.

    • So why isn’t that already what Defender on my Laptop is doing?

      • Ah, it is, it’s just that I already had Defender and Bitlocker with my Windows 10 Pro that came with my Surface device… this is just to give you Defender if you have bought a regular laptop from a regular retailer that is not Windows 10 Pro.

      • Defender is Microsoft Antivirus, Anti Malware and Anti Ransomware.

      • Bitlocker is encryption of your laptop contents.

    • “By default, you'll receive help with core protection against common online threats, but you can customize these settings later to fit your business needs.” And this is where it starts to get complex…

    • So firstly go through the wizard and get to this point

Step 6 - Windows 10 Pro

  • Ensuring all your laptops are Windows 10 Professional is pretty easy.

Step 7 - Connect your PC

  • This step is pretty easy too - just go into User Management and Add Work Account

Step 9 - Email and Files

  • I had to set up my One Drive linked to my business account on my PC. I only had One Drive for personal. It’s good to have them both there, separated like that.

Step 5 and 10 - Devices and Phones

  • “Securing and management of your computers and phones”

Next Steps - Not So Advanced Setup

This is stepping through all the steps in the Setup menu in your Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Set Passwords to Never Expire

Data Loss Prevention

  • The Wizard is a bit stupid for Australia because it only has settings for US and UK sensitive data. And there is no way you are even storing this data, is there?

  • You go to Customize policies and you are in the depths of hell of M365 Compliance Center and you just want to give up.

  • Thankfully there is a page on how to set things up for Australia

    • Go through setting up Australian Financial data

    • Select the defaults and choose to test it for a bit.

    • Create additional policies for medical if you need.

    • Create profiles for Australia Privacy Act, Australia Personal Identifiable Information (PII data). Also you may want the GDPR privacy one (but this is NOT about making you GDPR compliant at all).

    • Remember to come back and turn them on in a few weeks after testing.

  • Now remember, to get the benefit out of these tools you actually have to be using Microsoft tools. Turning this on and working with data in Google Sheets or business email in GSuite is not going to do anything. NOTE TO SELF!

Protect Mobile App Data

This is Microsoft Endpoint Manager

  • Go through the wizard and accept the defaults.

  • Click on Customize Policies if you want to see more details.

    • Unfortunately the Wizard did not seem to do anything for me.

  • It’s all a bit bizarre that they are only talking about setting up new devices.

    • Following another video I downloaded Outlook and InTune onto Android, and still nothing was set up. I was able to log into Office with no further prompting even after running the wizard.

  • MORE TO COME…