The Microsoft Modern Workplace is a bundle of Microsoft 365 and Azure services that lets your team work securely from anywhere, on any device. It puts email, files, chat, video meetings, phone calls and device security on one licensed platform instead of a pile of disconnected tools.
We licence it, deploy it, secure it and support it for businesses right across Australia. Local team, local data, one number to call.
“Modern workplace” is Microsoft’s name for a way of working where your systems live in the cloud rather than on a server in a cupboard. Your staff sign in once and get everything they need, whether they are at a desk, at home or on a job site. Nothing depends on being in the office.
In practice it is less a single product than a set of them, licensed together and configured to work as one.
Most businesses we move across are running some mix of an ageing mail or file server, a separate video conferencing subscription, a phone system connected to nothing else, consumer file sharing that IT cannot see, antivirus bought per machine, and backups nobody has tested. Consolidating that lot usually costs less than the sum of the parts, and it means one place to look when something breaks.
Exactly which of these you get depends on your licence tier. We work that out with you rather than selling you the biggest one.
These are the Microsoft products that make up a modern workplace, and what each one actually does for you.
The core licence. Email, the Office apps, Teams, and cloud storage for every user. Business Premium is the tier most small and mid-sized Australian businesses land on, because it is the cheapest one that includes the security and device management pieces.
Chat, video meetings, shared channels and document collaboration in one place. It is the part staff notice first and the part that decides whether a rollout is judged a success, so we spend time on how your channels and teams are structured rather than just switching it on.
Turns Teams into your business phone system, so staff take calls on the same app they already use for everything else. Keep your existing numbers. This is the current product; the old Microsoft 365 Business Voice bundle has been retired. See Teams Calling.
Company files in SharePoint, personal work files in OneDrive, both versioned and searchable. This is what replaces the mapped network drive. Set up carelessly it becomes a mess, so we design the structure and permissions with you before anything is migrated.
Entra ID handles who your staff are and how they prove it, including multi-factor authentication and conditional access. Defender watches email, files and devices for threats. Together they are the difference between a cloud setup and a secure one. See cyber security.
Enrols and manages every laptop and phone that touches your data. Push settings, require encryption, deploy software, and wipe a device remotely when someone loses it or leaves. Without Intune, a lost laptop is a security incident. With it, it is an inconvenience.
Where anything that will not fit into Microsoft 365 goes: line-of-business servers, virtual desktops, site-to-site networking and off-site backup. Useful when you have an application that has to keep running but you would rather not own the hardware it runs on.
The AI layer across Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. It drafts, summarises meetings and answers questions about your own documents. Worth having once your files and permissions are tidy, and worth delaying until they are. See Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Teams Rooms kit, certified headsets and interactive displays, specified to the size of the room and supplied ready to go. Bad hardware undoes good software. See video conferencing equipment.
The pitch for this normally arrives full of words like “transformation”. Here is what actually changes.
No VPN to remember, no remote desktop that drops out, no files stranded on an office PC. People sign in and their desktop is their desktop, at home or on site. Hybrid stops being something you tolerate and becomes something that just works.
Multi-factor authentication on every account, managed devices, and threat protection on email, which is still where most attacks arrive. If a device goes missing you wipe it from a browser. If credentials leak, conditional access blocks the sign-in.
Per user, per month, with no server to replace in three years and no capital expenditure to plan around. When you hire, you add a licence. When someone leaves, you remove one. You always know what you are paying for and why.
Shared files that are actually current. Meeting notes that write themselves. New starters set up before their first morning instead of during it. None of it dramatic on its own, all of it hours back each week.
Microsoft sells the licences. Getting them deployed, secured and kept that way is the part we do. Take the whole thing as a managed service or pick the pieces you need.
We work out the right licence mix for your headcount and how you work, then build the tenant properly from the start.
Mailboxes, files, shared drives and permissions moved across from an old server, Google Workspace or another provider.
Configured to a documented baseline rather than left at the Microsoft defaults, which are not strict enough to leave alone.
Intune enrolment for laptops and mobiles, with a proper process for people joining and leaving.
Teams Phone deployment with your existing numbers ported across, so nobody has to learn a new number.
Microsoft 365 is not a backup. We add an independent layer for the things that would stop you trading.
Short sessions for staff and a cheat sheet they will actually keep. The technical migration is the easy half; people changing how they work is the half that decides whether you get value out of it.
Helpdesk for your users, monitoring and patching, and a real person who knows your setup.
Scheduled check-ins on licence spend, security posture and what Microsoft has changed lately. Microsoft ships constantly. Someone should be reading the release notes so you do not have to.
There is no shortage of businesses that will sell you Microsoft licences. Fewer will pick up the phone in eighteen months when something odd is happening to your mail flow.
We are 100% Australian owned and operated, with offices in Melbourne and Brisbane and clients across the country. Your data sits in Australian data centres, your support calls are answered here, and compliance conversations happen in the context of Australian obligations rather than someone else’s.
We have been doing this long enough to have opinions. We will tell you when a cheaper licence tier is the right answer, and when Copilot should wait until your file permissions are sorted out.
Microsoft 365 tenants provisioned in Australia keep core customer data, including mailboxes, SharePoint and OneDrive content, in Microsoft’s Australian data centres.
The same approach scales. We look after single-site offices of five and multi-state operations of several hundred.
GP practices, allied health and aged care, including Best Practice and MedicalDirector environments, supported through our sister brand Databox Health.
A cloud-first setup makes a relocation far less painful. We handle IT relocation as well.
No two environments are the same, so the first step is always looking rather than quoting.
We audit what you are running now: licences, mailboxes, file shares, devices, phone system, backups. You get a written picture of where you stand, including anything already at risk.
A recommended licence mix per user group with the cost set out per user per month, and a clear line between what is a licence and what is our service fee.
Tenant configured, security baseline applied, devices enrolled in Intune. This happens before any of your data moves, not after.
Mail and files moved across in stages, scheduled around your trading hours. Your old system stays available until everyone has confirmed they have what they need.
Staff walked through the new setup with someone in the room or on the call. Extra support in the first fortnight, when the questions actually arrive.
Monitoring, patching, helpdesk and licence changes from there on, with scheduled reviews of spend and security posture.
Across healthcare, property, aged care and more
★★★★★
We’ve been working with Databox for our IT support and couldn’t be happier. The team is always quick to respond, patient, and genuinely helpful. They’ve kept our systems running smoothly and saved us a lot of downtime.
★★★★★
Exceptional service and support! We’ve used Databox for our phone, internet and managed IT services for over 5 years. They have been able to tailor to our unique needs seamlessly.
★★★★★
Their support team is consistently responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive in resolving any IT issues that arise. They take the time to understand our business needs.
★★★★★
Databox have taken on the management of the IT systems for our Nursing Home. The handover was effected smoothly. The upgrades to our network provide more reliable management of our clinical systems.
Tell us how many staff you have and what you are running now. We will come back with a licence recommendation and a price, with licences and service fees listed separately.
Prefer to talk? Call 1300 603 404 or email contact@databoxsolutions.com.au.
The Microsoft Modern Workplace is a set of Microsoft 365 and Azure cloud services licensed and configured to work as one platform, so staff can work securely from any location or device. It covers email, the Office apps, Teams chat and meetings, file storage in SharePoint and OneDrive, identity and sign-in security, device management, and threat protection.
It is not a single product you buy off a shelf. The term describes the combination, and the value depends heavily on how it is set up.
A typical modern workplace includes Exchange Online for email, the Microsoft 365 Office apps, Microsoft Teams for chat, meetings and calling, SharePoint and OneDrive for files, Microsoft Entra ID for sign-in and multi-factor authentication, Microsoft Intune for device management, and Microsoft Defender for threat protection. Azure is added where you need cloud servers, virtual desktops or off-site backup.
What you actually receive depends on your licence tier. Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the entry point that includes the security and device management components; the cheaper tiers do not.
The four that matter most in practice: staff can work from anywhere without VPNs or remote desktop workarounds; security improves because multi-factor authentication, managed devices and email threat protection come as standard rather than as add-ons; costs move to a predictable per user per month figure with no server to replace every few years; and day-to-day admin drops because files, meetings and accounts are all managed in one place.
Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams Phone, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Azure and, optionally, Microsoft 365 Copilot. Meeting room hardware and certified headsets are usually part of the picture too, since the software only works as well as the devices people use it on.
Cost has two parts: the Microsoft licences, charged per user per month and set by which tier each person needs, and the service fee for deploying and managing it. Businesses often over-licence by putting everyone on the same expensive tier when a mix would do, which is one of the first things we look at.
Because the right mix depends on your headcount, whether you need Teams Phone, and how much of the management you want to hand over, we quote rather than publish a price. Request a quote and we will set it out per user, with licences and service fees listed separately.
You can buy licences directly from Microsoft and configure things yourself. Most businesses under a few hundred staff do not have anyone with the time or the specific experience to do it well, and the defaults are not secure enough to leave alone.
Working with a partner also means one Australian invoice, someone accountable when something breaks, and licence changes handled for you as you hire. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner we can also raise issues with Microsoft on your behalf rather than leaving you in a support queue.
For a straightforward small business, from assessment to everyone working in the new environment usually takes a few weeks. The variables are how many mailboxes you have, how much file data needs to move, whether you are also porting phone numbers, and how tidy the permissions on your existing file shares are.
Data movement happens in stages outside your trading hours, and your old system stays available until every user has confirmed they have what they need. We give you a firm schedule after the assessment rather than a guess beforehand.
Yes. Microsoft 365 tenants provisioned in Australia store core customer data, including Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint sites and OneDrive content, in Microsoft’s Australian data centres. Some Microsoft services process limited data outside the region, and we will point out anything relevant to you during the assessment if your industry has specific data residency obligations.
Business Voice was retired as a bundle. Calling in Microsoft Teams is now licensed through Microsoft Teams Phone, with a calling plan or through a partner carrier. If you were previously quoted on Business Voice, ask for a current comparison, because the pricing structure has changed. See Teams Calling.
Yes. Microsoft keeps your service running and protects its own infrastructure, but it is not a backup of your content. Deleted items age out of retention, a compromised account can destroy data, and ransomware can encrypt files that then sync to the cloud. Independent data backup for mail, SharePoint and OneDrive is a separate and necessary layer.
Yes, and most clients take it that way. Ongoing management covers helpdesk support for your users, monitoring and patching, security policy maintenance, licence adjustments as staff come and go, and scheduled reviews of your spend and security posture. It sits inside our managed IT services plans.
