Microsoft CoE Playbook for MSPs

Key insights

• Microsoft Center of Excellence (CoE): This video interviews Nathan Taylor about building a CoE inside an MSP to deliver outcomes across Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Defender, Purview, and Copilot.
  The CoE centralizes expertise, repeatable processes, and customer-facing playbooks to speed onboarding and improve results.
• Back-to-basics posture: Start with essentials—MFA and Conditional Access (CA), email auth via SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and device protection with Intune, Microsoft Defender, and BitLocker.
  These controls produce the fastest risk reduction and are prerequisites for safe DLP, labels, and Copilot use.
• 45-minute tenant review: Use a repeatable 45-minute assessment flow to find quick wins and build trust with a tangible leave-behind report.
  The review focuses on high-impact checks, prioritized remediations, and clear next steps for business leaders.
• Common real-world gaps: Frequent findings include risky users, stolen tokens, misconfigured OAuth apps, and gaps in Defender for O365 setup.
  Target these areas first to close attack paths and lower exposure quickly.
• Licensing that enables security: Treat licensing as an enabler, not a cost line—Business Premium offers strong baseline protection, while E3 combined with an E5 Security add-on suits many mid-market clients.
  Choose licenses to unlock integrated Defender, identity, and compliance features rather than only to reduce license spend.
• Scale beyond the hero engineer: Standardize with runbooks, playbooks, pairing, QA gates, and quarterly reviews to make the CoE repeatable and resilient.
  Measure and report outcomes—risk reduced, audits passed, and total cost of ownership improved—to show business value.

Introduction: Video overview and context

In a recent YouTube video, Nick Ross [MVP] (T-Minus365) sits down with Nathan Taylor, SVP of the Microsoft Center of Excellence at Source Pass, to explain how top partners deliver outcomes across Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Defender, Purview, and Copilot, and aims to move teams from tool-focused work to business-focused results. Consequently, the discussion blends technical guidance with operational approaches suitable for managed service providers (MSPs). This article summarizes the video’s main points and highlights tradeoffs and challenges for editorial readers.

Defining the Microsoft Center of Excellence

Nathan Taylor frames a CoE as a specialized practice inside an MSP that standardizes skills, processes, and outcomes. He emphasizes that a CoE should do more than collect certifications; rather, it should create repeatable flows that accelerate customer value and reduce risk. Moreover, the practice aligns people, playbooks, and tools so teams can move from one-off fixes to measurable business results. As a result, a CoE becomes the backbone for scaling advanced Microsoft services across multiple tenants.

Back to basics: Where to focus first

The video stresses that quick wins come from focusing on fundamentals such as MFA, CA (conditional access), email authentication like SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and endpoint controls including Intune, Defender, and BitLocker. Taylor argues that if these basics are not in place, more advanced features like DLP, labels, or Copilot protections will have limited impact. However, prioritizing basics creates a tension between speed and completeness: teams can harden quickly, but must also plan for ongoing maintenance and policy refinement. Therefore, a balanced approach pairs rapid remediation with scheduled reassessments to avoid configuration drift.

The 45-minute tenant review and real threats

One practical takeaway is a repeatable 45-minute tenant review that Nathan recommends as a trust-building first step with clients. The flow surfaces immediate gaps and delivers tangible next steps, which helps convert assessment work into remediation projects. Furthermore, the video highlights frequent real-world issues such as risky users, token theft, misconfigured Defender for O365, and problematic OAuth app permissions. Yet, running fast reviews carries a challenge: they reveal risks quickly but cannot replace deeper, periodic audits that validate controls end-to-end.

Licensing strategy and full-stack signals

Taylor reframes licensing as a risk-management and capability tool rather than a pure cost line; he recommends evaluating the value of Business Premium for small businesses and pairing E3 with the E5 Security add-on for mid-market customers. He explains that many security features are best realized when signals from Entra ID, Intune, and Defender work together. Nevertheless, organizations face tradeoffs between license cost and security coverage, so MSPs must present clear business outcomes to justify upgrades. Consequently, licensing becomes an instrument to enable a coherent, full-stack defense rather than a checkbox purchase.

Scaling beyond the hero engineer

Taylor and Ross discuss how MSPs can move past reliance on a single expert by codifying knowledge into runbooks, playbooks, and quality-assurance gates. This standardization reduces variability and lets less experienced staff repeat proven fixes safely and consistently. However, the shift toward repeatability also requires investment in tooling, training, and governance to ensure standards remain current and effective. Thus, MSPs must weigh the upfront cost of operational maturity against lower long-term risk and higher efficiency.

Balancing automation and human oversight

Automation appears repeatedly in the video as a force multiplier for the CoE, from scripted tenant reviews to automated assessments mapped to controls like CIS. Nevertheless, Taylor warns that automation alone cannot replace expert judgement, especially when interpreting signals or investigating complex incidents. Therefore, effective CoEs blend automated checks with human-led reviews, which preserves speed while maintaining accuracy. In short, the balance hinges on clear escalation paths and periodic manual validation.

Measuring success and reporting outcomes

Finally, the hosts stress that successful practices report in business terms: reduced risk posture, improved audit readiness, and lower total cost of ownership. They recommend packaging assessment results into executive-friendly summaries to drive decisions and budget approvals. Moreover, regular cadence—such as quarterly reviews—keeps stakeholders informed and demonstrates continuous improvement. Ultimately, measuring outcomes helps justify investments in people, processes, and licenses.

Conclusion: Practical next steps

In summary, the video by Nick Ross [MVP] (T-Minus365) with Nathan Taylor offers a practical blueprint for building a Microsoft Center of Excellence at an MSP. By focusing on basics first, using repeatable review flows, aligning licensing to outcomes, and scaling through playbooks and automation, MSPs can deliver consistent security and business value. Yet, the work requires careful tradeoffs between speed, depth, and cost, and it demands ongoing governance to stay effective. For teams considering a CoE, the key is to start with repeatable wins and then invest in the operational discipline to sustain them.

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Keywords

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