Almost every small business now runs on Microsoft 365, and almost none of it is set up the way it should be. Accounts belonging to people who left, no multi-factor authentication, mail rules nobody created, and an assumption that Microsoft is backing everything up. We fix those four things first because they are where the actual damage happens.
Client confidentiality lives and dies in email here. Mail rules that quietly forward to a personal address are the specific thing we look for, because that is how a firm loses control of a client file without anyone noticing.
Fairfax sits inside our 30 mile service area from Ashburn, so a technician can be with you the same day when something needs hands on it. The phone is answered 24/7 and technicians are available weekdays 8am to 6pm.
Multi-factor authentication is the whole game
The overwhelming majority of small business email compromises would have been stopped by MFA. It is free, it takes an afternoon to roll out properly, and the reason it does not get done is that somebody has to explain it to staff kindly.
Microsoft does not back up your mail the way you think
Microsoft keeps the service running; it does not guarantee you can recover a mailbox somebody deleted ninety days ago. That is your responsibility and it needs a separate backup, which most businesses discover at exactly the wrong moment.
Accounts for people who left
Every business we take on has at least one. Sometimes it still forwards mail somewhere. Offboarding should be a written checklist rather than a memory, and it takes ten minutes to build.
Email authentication stops people spoofing you
SPF, DKIM and DMARC decide whether a stranger can send mail that looks like it came from your domain. Most small business domains have one of the three half-configured, which is the same as none.
Questions we get from Fairfax
- Do you actually come out to Fairfax?
- Yes. Fairfax is inside our service area and we drive out for the work that needs hands on it. Most things get fixed remotely the same day, and when a visit is the right answer we quote the time before anyone gets in the van.
- What do you usually find when you take on a Fairfax business?
- In Fairfax the compliance paperwork usually arrives before the IT budget does. A client or an insurer asks what controls you have, and that is the first time anyone looks.
- Do we need a Microsoft 365 backup if Microsoft hosts it?
- Yes. Microsoft protects the platform, not your content decisions. Deleted, overwritten or maliciously wiped mail past the retention window is gone unless you backed it up.
- Will multi-factor authentication annoy our staff?
- For about a week, and then it becomes invisible. Set up properly it prompts on new devices rather than every login, which is the difference between people accepting it and people finding ways around it.
- Someone is sending email pretending to be our owner. Can that be stopped?
- Largely, yes. Correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC records make it much harder for spoofed mail to be delivered, and we can also flag external mail so staff see it is not internal.
- Can you move us from an old email system?
- Yes, including from a hosting company's mail or an old Exchange server. Migrations are planned around a quiet period, and old mail comes with you.
- Which licence do we actually need?
- Usually less than you are sold. We look at what each person does before recommending a tier, because paying for security features nobody enabled is the most common waste we find.
Talk to someone in Fairfax
Fifteen minutes on the phone, no discovery-call ritual. If we are not the right fit we will say so.
Microsoft 365 and email nearby
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