Opportunity Awaits – Offer Your Customers More with New Releases: Microsoft Defender for Business and Microsoft Lighthouse

New Release #1: Microsoft Defender for Business

Starting March 1, 2022, Microsoft Defender for Business will be launching for Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers worldwide. Designed for businesses with up to 300 employees, Microsoft Defender for Business will add cross-platform endpoint protection and sophisticated ransomware defenses with technologies like Endpoint Detection and Response to the comprehensive security and productivity stack that already exists in Microsoft 365 Business Premium – making it an even more compelling offer for small and medium business customers.

How Does This Offering Compare to Its Predecessors, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 And Plan 2?

Microsoft Defender for Business (MDB) brings many E5 capabilities to SMB with some exceptions like Threat Hunting and some other features which have been simplified for ease of management by SMB IT generalists. 

How can existing customers on Microsoft 365 Business Premium activate MDB?

Microsoft Defender for Business opens a new opportunity for partners to provide more value through security services they can implement for their customers. Please review our Microsoft 365 Business Premium Security Deployment Guide for step-by-step instructions on how to turn on security features for normal or high-risk environments.
Interested in demo-ing Microsoft Defender for Business first? Demo environments are available on Microsoft Customer Digital Experiences. Find updated Microsoft 365 Business Premium marketing and sales collateral with Microsoft Defender for Business here.

New Release #2: Microsoft Lighthouse

Since its preview at Microsoft Inspire in 2021, Microsoft is proud to make generally available Microsoft 365 Lighthouse for Managed Service Providers at no cost to manage Microsoft 365 services and connected devices starting March 1, 2022.

What is Microsoft 365 Lighthouse?

Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is an admin portal that helps Managed Service Providers (MSPs) secure and manage devices, data, and users at scale for small- and medium-sized business (SMB) customers who are using Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Microsoft 365 E3. 

Lighthouse helps MSPs secure and manage Microsoft 365 services and connected endpoints at scale by:

• Providing tenant deployment journeys so technicians can follow a consistent set of steps to secure and configure customer tenants.
• Using a default SMB security baseline that prescribes best practices targeted to small- and medium-sized business tenants.
• Providing multi-tenant insights on device compliance for a clear view of how devices are being evaluated across all organizations, tools to compare policies, and the top settings that aren't being met.
• Simplifying common tasks like resetting a password.
• Configuring multifactor authentication and self-service password reset, including tools to help drive adoption by users.
• Understanding and protecting against risky sign-ins.
• Managing threats on Windows 10 devices by providing details on threats detected by Microsoft 365 Defender and actions to take to resolve issues and keep devices up to date.
• Providing insights into Microsoft 365 service incidents and advisories that impact the customer tenants they manage.

How to get started:

• Review steps on how to onboard Lighthouse to your Microsoft tenant
• Learn more through the official Microsoft 365 Lighthouse webpage or TechCommunity blog
• Understand the requirements for partners looking to start using this portal

Next Steps

Take part in the series of live webinars to help you understand how Microsoft Defender for Business, Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Lighthouse can help you provide security for your customers and grow your business. The webinars will provide practical guidance about upsell conversations, product demos, and a panel of experts ready to answer your questions. Wish to speak to an Ingram Micro representative directly about this new opportunity? Reach out to your local Ingram sales representative here.