Is your network optimized for Microsoft 365?

When we talk about how well the company network works, we often assess the speed of the Wi-Fi connection, how efficiently clients communicate with each other or how long it takes to download files from your own server. Having a stable and fast connection is of course important for all employees to be able to do their work, but the connection to the cloud services used is even more important. Before Microsoft released the Microsoft Office 365 Network Onboardig Tool, few people knew that you can actually optimize your network environment to work optimally with Microsoft's cloud services.

Choose the fastest route for your data

Basically, optimization is about making your data take the shortest possible route and eliminating obstacles along the way. Mail, Onedrive, Sharepoint, Teams. Microsoft today offers a wide range of services that all require a certain amount of bandwidth to function. In order to ensure fast access, Microsoft has a number of data centers around the world, but the path is not always straightforward. If you type in "office.com", it's possible that your ISP will send you to a front door (Microsoft's entry point to Microsoft 365) in Egypt and then pick up your data in the Netherlands. Because your data has to travel a long way, it takes an unnecessarily long time for it to arrive.

Many people may think that fast data traffic is important for phone and video calls in Teams, but the optimization affects everything from how fast your computer synchronizes files to how fast you can update your inbox in Outlook.

Examples of actions that can give you a better Microsoft 365 experience

• Configure your proxy server to prioritize and pass traffic to Microsoft services.

When you visit a site, it is common for it to be downloaded first to the proxy server, which checks that it is secure. By designating Microsoft's front doors as secure, traffic is let through directly.

• Make sure the right gates are open

By opening the right ports, you can prioritize different types of traffic. One recommendation is to give voice and video streams in Microsoft services priority over Netflix viewing.

• Check the DNS lookup to make sure you are at the right address.

Your broadband provider has its own DNS serving customers, but because it is not configured to send your Microsoft traffic to the front door closest to your location, there is a risk that the data will have to travel unnecessarily long distances.

• Setting up geographical data storage at user level.

It is not only the services and the stored data that can be located in different parts of the world, but also the users themselves. If you have your Microsoft subscription in Sweden and set up a user account for an employee in China, the user's Onedrive or Sharepoint data will most likely be stored in the data center closest to Sweden. In this case, it is a good idea to choose a different geographical location for that particular user's data storage.

Take the test every three months

The Microsoft Office 365 Network Onboardig Tool is an excellent tool to measure how optimized your network is for Microsoft's cloud services. After testing your environment, you not only get solid recommendations for action, but also a percentage that shows in black and white how optimized your environment is. To help you evaluate your performance, you will also see how your company compares to other companies, both globally and in your region. For a CDO or IT strategist, this is a golden opportunity to do good optimization work and get concrete numbers to show the management team.

Once you've started your optimization work, it's a good idea to continue testing every three months to make sure there have been no changes and that traffic is still moving freely. Microsoft's services are constantly evolving and changing, and if you perform regular tests, you don't have to worry about situations where certain services suddenly stop working without you knowing why.

How much time you need to spend on actual optimization depends on what the numbers show. As we see it, the important thing is that you start thinking outside the box when it comes to your network and put your resources where they will do the most good. Right now, that's in the cloud.

Want to know more about how you can use Microsoft's testing tools to optimize your network for Microsoft 365? Get in touch with us.