Spring is in the air—the time we roll up our sleeves, clear out the clutter, and start fresh. But while you are tidying up your home, have you thought about doing the same for your IT environment?
Recently, I found myself deep in conversation with my Managed Service Provider (MSP) customers as we prepared for M365 license renewals. It struck me how much digital clutter accumulates over time, and how important it is to regularly step back and clean house.
Unnecessary Licenses
Take, for example, a client I worked with last year. They had dozens of unused M365 licenses assigned to former employees, shared mailboxes still hosting outdated project emails, and a web of transport rules so tangled it was a wonder any emails reached their destination at all. Sound familiar? If so, it might be time for a little IT spring cleaning.
The first step? License assignments. It is easy for organizations to accumulate unnecessary licenses, driving up costs without adding value. By reviewing and reallocating these, we were able to optimize spending and ensure every user had exactly what they needed—no more, no less.
Unused Mailboxes
Next, we turned our attention to user accounts. Over the years, old accounts piled up like digital dust bunnies, often with permissions still lingering long after their owners have moved on. We combed through active directory, removing or disabling inactive accounts, and tightening access controls to improve security.
Then came the mailboxes. You would not believe how many standalone and shared mailboxes we found that had not been accessed in months, sometimes years. We archived what we needed, deleted the rest, and refined permissions to keep things lean and manageable.
But the real revelation was in the group structures. So many teams had created ad hoc groups for one-off projects that never were cleaned up, leading to confusion and misrouted emails. By streamlining these groups, we restored clarity and efficiency to their communication workflows.
Updates to Email Security
And of course, no IT cleanup is complete without a deep dive into email security. We reviewed forwarding rules and transport policies, shutting down any unauthorized forwarding and ensuring phishing protections were properly configured. SPAM filters got a tune-up, and unnecessary rules were pruned to prevent disruptions.
By the end of this process, my client’s M365 environment was running smoothly—no excess, no confusion, just a clean, efficient system ready for the months ahead.
It was a reminder that IT hygiene, just like home cleaning, should be a regular habit rather than a once-a-year scramble.
So, when was the last time you gave your IT setup a good spring cleaning? If you have not done so recently, now’s the perfect time to start.
Need help with your IT spring cleaning? Please reach out and the DMC Technology Group experts can get to work!
President, DMC Technology Group
