Regional insurance agency · ~70 staff
An acquisition left the agency with two Microsoft accounts and a renewal nine weeks away.
An acquisition arrived with its own Microsoft account, 18 mailboxes, three years of files whose permissions no one had checked, and a renewal nine weeks away. Sales wanted Copilot, the license list did not match the staff list, and running two accounts doubled the admin work.
Representative profile. Figures are illustrative.
The work
What we did, and why
An acquisition brings a second Microsoft account, a second license list, and a second set of file permissions that no one has reviewed. This agency had all three, and its sales team had already asked for Copilot. Turning Copilot on first would have been risky. It can read anything the signed-in person can open, and that included three years of files shared with anyone who had the link.
The licensing review came first because the renewal was nine weeks away. The agency was paying for sixty-eight licenses but had fifty-one active users. One add-on duplicated a feature the higher plan already included, and the acquired company had a separate license bill of its own. The Microsoft 365 tenant review then ranked the security risks. At the top were five top-level admin accounts, old password-only sign-in still enabled for two applications, and fourteen live anyone-with-the-link sharing links. Nine apps had been approved by staff who did not know what access they were granting, which is often where unapproved AI tools are found.
We made the fixes alongside the agency's IT firm, which continued to handle daily administration. Admin accounts were cut to two, password-only sign-in was blocked once the two applications were updated, and the links and app approvals were closed one at a time. Sign-ins, mail, files, and Teams then moved into one account, with permissions reviewed along the way instead of copied over unchanged. Copilot followed as a twelve-person pilot, with sensitive files labeled first and use measured against cost per active user.
Each month, the agency now receives a report on licenses and usage, Microsoft's security score, the renewal calendar, sharing changes, and any app waiting on a decision. That report is oversight work, and the help desk stays with the IT firm.
What the same Microsoft 365 work looks like for an insurance agency is on the insurance industry page.
The result
Where the company stands now
The agency now has one Microsoft account, one renewal, and a license bill that matches active use. The monthly report covers the account alongside the AI dashboard, so the next renewal decision is prepared before the date arrives.
For leadership
What changed for the people running it
The principal no longer pays for a second account or for 17 licenses no one used. Sales got Copilot nine weeks later than requested, on an account whose file permissions had been reviewed first.
This is a representative profile, drawn from the kinds of companies we work with. Figures are illustrative. We publish named results only with a client's written permission.
More profiles
How were two Microsoft accounts merged before the renewal?
Licensing was reviewed first, nine weeks before renewal, so unused licenses were not carried across. The move then covered sign-ins, mail, files, and Teams, with permissions reviewed along the way.
What was fixed before the Copilot pilot?
Seventeen unused licenses were cut, password-only sign-in was blocked, and file permissions were reviewed. Sales then ran a 12-person pilot.
Next step
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