Microsoft 365 support covers setting up and running a company's tenant: creating and removing users, managing licences, securing accounts with MFA and conditional access, structuring Teams and SharePoint, backing up mailboxes and files, and fixing problems when they arise. Listonics provides this for Dubai offices, remotely across the UAE, as part of managed support or as a standalone service.
Part of our guide to Microsoft 365 & Cloud.
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Real reviews from Trustpilot and Google, word for word. Google rating 5.0 from 5 reviews, checked 2026-10-17.
Best team I’ve ever hired. All in one place.
As a construction company, we have a lot to manage, so finding one team that can handle our IT and digital requirements has been really helpful. Listonics has supported us with office networking, cybersecurity, website development and SEO. Their team knows what they’re doing and has been easy to work with. We no longer need to coordinate with different companies for every requirement, which saves us time and effort. Overall, it’s been a good experience, and we’re happy to have them supporting our business.
We needed a custom ERP and HR system…
We needed a custom ERP and HR system for our business, along with a new website, and Listonics helped us with all three. The team was approachable, listened to what we wanted and made the process easier than we expected. We could discuss changes directly with them, which made a big difference. It was also convenient having one team handle everything instead of dealing with multiple companies. Overall, we’re happy with how things turned out and glad we chose them.
Listonics projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 as a fixed scope; support is a fixed monthly fee with response times written into the agreement. The IT support cost guide and managed IT pricing guide set out how the numbers are built.
What does Microsoft 365 support include?
Microsoft 365 support is the ongoing administration of your tenant, not only a helpdesk for Outlook problems. It covers the setup decisions that are hard to change later and the routine work that keeps the tenant secure, organised and correctly licensed as people join and leave. What each plan includes, and which roles hold what, is set out in the Microsoft 365 platform service description.
- Tenant setup and configuration: domains, DNS records, admin roles, groups and policies.
- User onboarding and offboarding, mailbox and shared-mailbox setup.
- Licence right-sizing and annual review, so you are not paying for unused seats.
- Security: MFA, conditional access, anti-phishing and data-loss policies.
- Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive structure by department.
- Third-party backup of mailboxes and files, with restores when something is lost.
- Migration from Google Workspace, legacy mail servers or another tenant.
- Day-to-day administration and troubleshooting, reviewed with you on a regular schedule.
How should a new Microsoft 365 tenant be set up?
A new tenant should be set up deliberately before anyone starts using it: company domain verified, email authentication records in place, separate admin accounts created and a folder and permissions plan agreed. Fixing these after a year of use is far more disruptive than doing them on day one.
The DNS records matter more than most offices expect. Without correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, messages to clients are more likely to land in spam or be rejected, and it becomes easier for someone to send email that appears to come from your domain. We also set naming conventions for users and groups, configure shared mailboxes for addresses such as accounts or info, and enrol company laptops for management where the licence includes Intune.
Example: a 20-person office moving mailboxes off a hosting company would have its tenant built, domains and DNS prepared, mail and files copied in advance, and a planned cutover so staff sign in to the new tenant on the next working day. Our Microsoft 365 migration plan walks through each step.
Which Microsoft 365 licence does each user need?
Each user needs the licence that matches how they work, and most offices end up with a mix rather than one plan for everyone. Licences can be supplied by Listonics at cost as part of the service, or we can manage licences you already own.
As a general guide, Business Basic covers email, Teams and the web and mobile versions of the Office apps. Business Standard adds the desktop apps. Business Premium adds device management with Intune, conditional access and stronger protection against phishing and malware, which is usually where offices handling client money or confidential files should be. We review assignments at least once a year so leavers' licences are released and nobody is on a plan they do not need.
If you are still deciding on a platform, our comparison of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for Dubai offices sets out the trade-offs. Listonics supports either for day-to-day office IT.
What Microsoft 365 security settings do most tenants leave off?
Business email compromise often starts with an account that had no MFA, legacy authentication still enabled, or forwarding rules nobody reviewed. Our onboarding switches on a security baseline and we review it quarterly, because settings drift as exceptions are made.
- MFA for every user, including directors and shared admin accounts. Our guide to MFA for small businesses explains the rollout.
- Legacy authentication protocols blocked.
- Admin roles separated: day-to-day accounts have no admin rights, and admin accounts are not used for email.
- Alerts on suspicious sign-ins and new inbox forwarding rules; automatic forwarding to outside addresses blocked unless approved.
- Anti-phishing and impersonation protection, with attachment and link scanning where licensed.
- Conditional access, for example requiring a managed device or blocking risky sign-ins, where the licence supports it.
- Data-loss policies for offices that handle personal or financial data.
How should onboarding and offboarding work in Microsoft 365?
Onboarding should give a new starter a working account, the right licence and access to the right Teams and folders on their first morning. Offboarding should remove access the same day someone leaves, without losing the mailbox or files the business still needs.
For joiners we create the account, assign the licence and groups, register MFA with the user, and prepare the laptop so they can start work. For leavers we block sign-in, sign the user out of every session, remove MFA methods and mobile access, hand the mailbox to a manager or convert it to a shared mailbox where appropriate, move OneDrive files that belong to the business, and release the licence. Each step is recorded in the account list we maintain for you.
How should Teams and SharePoint be structured?
Teams and SharePoint work best when they follow the company's structure: one team per department or long-running function, named owners, and clear rules for guests and external sharing. Without that, files end up scattered across personal OneDrives and chats, and permissions become something nobody understands anymore.
We agree a structure with you, move shared files out of personal storage into the right team sites, set who can create new teams, decide how guest access and external sharing links work, and document the result. For confidential areas such as HR, finance or client matters, access is restricted to named groups rather than individuals, which keeps permissions manageable as people change roles.
Is Microsoft 365 backed up?
Not in the way most businesses assume. Microsoft keeps the service running and retains deleted items for a limited window, but that is not the same as a backup you control. It does not protect you well against ransomware that encrypts synced files, a malicious deletion noticed months later, or a departed user's data removed along with their licence. Microsoft sells separate retention as Microsoft 365 Backup; the licence alone does not include it.
We add third-party backup of Exchange mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams files, stored separately from the tenant, and test restores so we know a file or mailbox can actually be recovered. For local data such as a NAS, see NAS storage and backup.
What does ongoing Microsoft 365 support look like month to month?
Setting up Microsoft 365 is a one-time project. Keeping it safe and tidy is ongoing support. Most of the monthly work is routine, and that is exactly why it gets forgotten when nobody owns it.
- New joiners set up and leavers removed the same day, with licences added or taken back. Dubai teams change fast, and a leaver's mailbox left open is a real risk.
- Unusual sign-in alerts actually reviewed, not left sitting in an inbox nobody reads.
- Microsoft Teams and SharePoint access kept matched to who should see what.
- Licences checked against real use, so you stop paying for accounts nobody uses.
- New Microsoft 365 features checked before they are switched on for everyone.
Microsoft changes Office 365 services all the time. Ongoing support means someone reads those changes and works out what they mean for your business, before something breaks.
How Listonics supports Microsoft 365
Listonics sets up, secures and administers Microsoft 365 for offices of roughly 5 to 200 staff, as part of Microsoft 365 and cloud services. Licences are supplied at cost; ongoing administration is included in a managed IT support plan or charged per user. Tenants set up by someone else can be taken over: we audit and document first, fix urgent gaps, then manage it. Microsoft 365 work is delivered remotely anywhere in the UAE, with engineers on site in Dubai when a laptop or network issue is involved. Call us when: What a migration project costs is on our Microsoft 365 migration cost page.
- Email is not arriving, or is landing in clients' spam folders.
- A user is locked out or an account may be compromised.
- Teams or SharePoint permissions no longer make sense.
- A new starter needs to be working today.
- You are moving from Google Workspace, or merging two tenants after an acquisition.
Frequently asked questions
We supply and manage licences at cost as part of the service, or work with licences you already own, whichever you prefer. Either way we review assignments at least once a year so you are not paying for seats nobody uses, and so each person is on the plan that matches their work.
Not in the way most businesses assume. Retention windows are limited and there is no real protection against ransomware or malicious deletion that goes unnoticed. We add third-party backup of mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, stored separately from the tenant, and test that restores work.
Yes. Mail, calendars and Drive files are copied in advance and cut over at a weekend, so staff simply sign in to Microsoft 365 on Monday. We also move legacy mail servers and hosted mailboxes, and merge tenants after an acquisition, following the same copy-first, planned-cutover approach.
Yes. We start with an audit of admin accounts, security settings, licences, sharing and backup, document what exists, and fix urgent gaps such as missing MFA or unknown admin accounts first. After that the tenant moves into normal administration under a support plan or per-user arrangement.
We do not publish a single price. Licences are supplied at cost, and administration is either part of a fixed monthly managed support fee or charged per user. What changes the quote is the number of users, the licence mix, whether a migration or clean-up is needed, and whether backup and device management are included.
Written by Srinivasan Ramachandran, Founder, Listonics · Last reviewed October 28, 2026