Originally published to Techwire.

Many Government organizations in California have recently acquired Microsoft 365 GCC G5 (E5/A5) licensing for the advanced security and compliance benefits. With so many features, it can feel overwhelming to determine where to start and how to maximize ROI as soon as possible.

Step 1: Prerequisites 

When embarking on a G5 implementation journey, the first step is to determine your organization’s maturity with the current G3 implementations. One thing to remember is that the cornerstone is identity and access security, with device and application management. These are foundational G3 technologies and fundamental to fully actualizing G5 advanced technologies. An honest assessment of your current state of G3 maturity and cloud presence can help you navigate your next steps.

Step 2: Determine Level of Effort, 3rd Party Replacement, Regulatory Directives, and Order of Operations 

Once you have fully vetted your prerequisites and current implementations, it’s time for the fun part: planning for implementation, cost savings, and increased security and compliance.

• Level of effort – Planning, configuration, testing, implementation, communication, change management, and operationalizing each represent a unique level of effort, with overlapping considerations/interdependencies across G5.
• 3rd Party replacement – Consolidating your security, compliance, collaboration, and productivity components within Microsoft 365 and Azure offers a multitude of benefits, including significant cost savings by replacing expensive 3rd party tools.
• Regulatory/compliance directives – Sometimes, decisions are easy because they have been made for you. G5 features support CCPA and other compliance requirements to help ensure your organization meets or exceeds mandates.
• Order of operations – The above considerations organically form a clear picture: how to crawl-walk-run with G5. A G5 roadmap should go beyond technical implementations and represent a clear vision of your ongoing governance, security, compliance, and operationalizing of Microsoft 365 and Azure.

Step 3: Start Implementing

Now that you have properly planned, you are ready to deploy. You will begin to realize true cost savings while increasing your security and compliance stance.

Need help? 

Planet has developed an assessment engagement that helps you create a comprehensive roadmap for a successful G5 implementation and achieve significant ROI in a short time frame.

Planet Technologies is leading the charge with in-the-trenches experience implementing advanced G5 technologies for Microsoft 365 and Azure. Many G5 products can provide immediate value, while other more complex features require a more methodical implementation approach. We are here to help!

For more information contact Jennifer Dodd at jdodd@go-planet.com.