With the rapid transition to digital learning and the increased need for device management in education institutions, we understand the importance of providing secure digital environments for all staff and students. Microsoft 365 Education A5 includes a comprehensive set of management, security, privacy, and compliance solutions to help schools meet this need and more, including features like Learning Accelerators, Education Insights, and Unified Communications that enhance teaching, learning, and working. Paid users, such as faculty and staff, benefit from all of these features, and the student use benefit makes a subset of the features available to students at no cost.
In 2023, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct two Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) studies that examine the potential security-related return on investment (ROI) that K-12 school systems and higher education institutions may realize by deploying Microsoft 365 Education A5. Prior to upgrading to A5, many of these institutions noted that limitations with their prior systems led to costly security-related events in terms of ransomware payments, recovery efforts, brand damage, and disruption to educational continuity.
Upgrading to A5 resulted in decreased complexity and difficulty in responding to security threats and compliance requirements, the ability to meet cyber insurance requirements, and increased cost savings over time.
The impact of Microsoft 365 Education A5 on K-12 schools
For the purposes of the K-12 TEI study, Forrester aggregated the experiences of the respondents and combined the results into a single composite organization that is a K-12 (primary and secondary education) school system with 60,000 students and 10,000 employees.
We were able to cut our security license costs 25% by moving to A5. More important than saving money is that we now have better security and user experiences.
Chief Information Officer in a K-12 public school district
Within the composite K-12 organization, the study notes the following benefits of Microsoft 365 Education A5.
- Improved security and compliance posture: The annual number of significant breaches that cross multiple systems and large portions of users is reduced by 15% for the composite organization, and the cost to remediate the remaining breaches is reduced by 29%. These savings include the actual remediation costs as well as fines and additive audit and compliance costs. Over three years, this is worth about $972,800 to the composite organization.
- Security solution vendor consolidation reduces license costs by 30%: Consolidating from multiple vendors to Microsoft also reduces the total license/subscription and maintenance spend. The three-year value to the composite organization is $1.1 million.
- Efficiencies in detection, remediation, and efficiency reduces future IT security team staff growth: Consolidating to Microsoft 365 Education A5 makes it possible to provide the composite organization with necessary improved protection and response to threats without growing the IT security team by the 50% it would need with the prior solutions. In doing so, the composite organization realizes about $545,700 in added labor savings over three years. This is an especially important benefit because of the difficulty the composite organization’s school system has with hiring, training, and/or retaining IT security professionals.
- Improved security and using security features save employees fifteen minutes per week: After very conservatively reducing this benefit by 75% because not all time saved translates into additional work getting done, the three-year value to the composite organization is $1.7 million.
The overall financial analysis, which is based on the interviews and survey, found that a composite K-12 organization experiences benefits of $4.22 million over three years versus costs of $1.94 million, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $2.28 million and an ROI of 118%.
Executive summary data of the K-12 Forrester study “The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft 365 Education A5 Security For K-12 Schools.”
The impact of Microsoft 365 Education A5 on higher education institutions
For the purposes of the higher education TEI study, Forrester aggregated the experiences of the respondents and combined the results into a single composite organization that is a higher ed organization with a teaching hospital, 50,000 students, and 15,000 employees.
A big benefit is improved availability. A cloud-first approach means employees are not down as much because of technical or security issues.
A Vice President of technology and Chief Information Officer at a four-year university
Within the composite higher education organization, the study notes the following benefits of Microsoft 365 Education A5.
- Improved security and compliance posture: The annual number of significant breaches that cross multiple systems and large portions of users is reduced by 15% for the composite organization, and the cost to remediate the remaining breaches is reduced by 29%. These savings include the actual remediation costs as well as fines and additive audit and compliance costs. Over three years, this is worth $1.2 million to the composite organization.
- Security solution vendor consolidation reduces license costs by 30%: Consolidating from multiple vendors to Microsoft also reduces the total license/subscription and maintenance spend. The three-year value to the composite organization is $1.7 million.
- Efficiencies in detection, remediation, and efficiency reduces future IT security team staff growth: Consolidating to Microsoft 365 Education A5 makes it possible to provide the composite organization with necessary improved protection and response to threats without growing the IT security team by the 40% it would need with the prior solutions. In doing so, the composite organization realizes about $1.1 million in added labor savings over three years. This is an especially important benefit because of the difficulty the higher education composite organization has with hiring, training, and/or retaining IT security professionals.
- Improved security and using security features save employees fifteen minutes per week: After very conservatively reducing this benefit by 75% (because not all time saved translates into additional work getting done), the three-year value to the composite organization is $3.3 million.
The financial analysis, which is based on the interviews and survey, found that a composite higher education organization experiences benefits of $7.28 million over three years versus costs of $3.19 million, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $4.09 million and an ROI of 128%.
Executive summary data of the Higher Education Forrester study “The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft 365 Education A5 Security For Higher Education.”
Both studies recognize the unquantifiable benefits of Microsoft 365 Education A5 as well. A5 provides additional features, like Microsoft Teams Phone and Power BI, that support communication efforts and provide expanded data analytics. A5 also helps schools put in place insurance-mandated solutions faster and at less cost than many other alternatives, and it can help slow down the increases in policy premiums. Moreover, with the prevention of unexpected security issues, education institutions with Microsoft 365 Education A5 can focus on improving learning outcomes with a comprehensive learning environment that is safe, secure, and compliant for online and remote learning and digital collaboration.
Learn more about how Microsoft 365 Education A5 can enhance privacy and security for your K-12 school system or higher education institution to accelerate teaching, learning, and working for students and staff.
