The Business Case for Microsoft Sentinel
Are you waiting for hackers to strike before you act? Most UK businesses are. Cyber criminals don't knock politely. They exploit every gap you leave open.
The reality is stark. Every day, a UK CFO discovers their finance system is locked behind ransomware. Their backup strategy? Non-existent or untested. Their recovery plan? Ring around frantically asking suppliers for three months of missing data.
Don't be one of them. Microsoft Sentinel gives you the eyes and ears you need to spot threats before they destroy your business.
Why Change? The Business Cost of Getting This Wrong
When cyber security fails, the damage extends far beyond IT.
Financial impact: Successful cyber attacks cost UK businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds when you factor in downtime, recovery, lost revenue, and regulatory fines. Three weeks without access to your finance system means three weeks without invoicing or receiving payments.
Operational paralysis: Your finance team can't process payroll. Sales can't generate invoices. Your entire business grinds to a halt whilst you scramble to rebuild systems from outdated backups.
Regulatory consequences: Under UK GDPR, data breaches can result in fines up to £17.5 million or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is higher. The ICO doesn't accept "we didn't know" as a defence.
The question isn't whether you can afford Microsoft Sentinel. It's whether you can afford to operate without it.
What's Stopping You? Common Objections
"We've got antivirus software - isn't that enough?" Basic antivirus catches known threats. MS Sentinel detects sophisticated attacks that bypass traditional defences. Cyber criminals evolve faster than signature-based protection can keep up.
"We're too small to be a target." You're exactly the target cyber criminals want. Smaller businesses often have weaker defences and faster payment times for ransomware. You're easier prey than enterprises with dedicated security teams.
"It sounds expensive." Know what's expensive? Rebuilding your entire finance system whilst customers stop ordering because you can't invoice them. Three weeks of lost revenue costs more than years of proactive protection.
"We don't have the expertise to manage it." That's precisely why managed security services exist. You get enterprise-grade protection without hiring security analysts or learning threat detection yourself.
"Our IT person handles security." Your IT person is brilliant at keeping systems running. But spotting sophisticated cyber attacks whilst also managing user requests, system updates, and project work? That's asking too much of anyone.
What Are Your Options?
What is Microsoft Sentinel?
Microsoft Sentinel is Microsoft's cloud-native security operations platform that watches everything, spots trouble before it spreads, and takes action automatically.
MS Sentinel collects security data at scale across every user, device, application, and piece of infrastructure in your business. On-premises servers, cloud applications, employee laptops - everything feeds into one central system that understands what normal looks like for your organisation.
What makes Sentinel Microsoft different: it's built entirely within your Microsoft Azure tenancy. Your data stays under your control. No third-party black boxes.
What is Microsoft Sentinel really doing for you? It provides 24/7 monitoring, proactive threat hunting, incident detection, and rapid response through a single platform. More importantly, it spots the warning signs before attackers can do real damage.
Important: Microsoft Sentinel isn't a silver bullet. It's an excellent foundation for your security strategy, but it works best as part of a multi-layered approach. Think of Sentinel Microsoft as your security command centre that becomes exponentially more powerful when combined with tools like Microsoft 365 Defender for endpoint protection, strong identity management, regular backups, and user training.
What Microsoft Sentinel Actually Does
Comprehensive monitoring: Watches all users, devices, applications, and infrastructure. No blind spots for attackers.
Intelligent threat detection: Uses artificial intelligence to identify suspicious activities at scale. Spots patterns that humans would miss.
Automatic response: Common threats get handled automatically. Complex attacks get escalated to security analysts who know what they're doing.
Real-time alerts: Medium and high-priority threats get escalated for proper investigation. You're informed about genuine risks, not buried under false alarms.
Works with existing technology: Integrates with Microsoft 365 Defender, third-party security tools, and monitors virtually any device or application.
What This Means for Your Budget
Microsoft Sentinel pricing is based on data volume - you pay per gigabyte ingested. How much does Microsoft Sentinel cost depends on your data volume and retention needs. For typical UK businesses with 100-500 employees, expect £2,000-£8,000 per month.
Your options:
Hire in-house security analysts: Security analysts command significant salaries, and you need multiple analysts for 24/7 coverage - that's £200,000+ annually before training, tools, and turnover costs.
Use managed security services: TSG's Cyber Care provides 24/7 monitoring, investigation, and response at a fraction of in-house costs. Enterprise-grade security expertise without enterprise hiring costs.
Do nothing: Free until you get attacked. Then expect hundreds of thousands in costs, three weeks of downtime, and permanent reputation damage.
Most businesses discover that managed security services deliver the best value.
The Benefits of Microsoft Sentinel
Stop threats before they cost you money: Microsoft Sentinel detects previously undetected threats and cuts down false positives using Microsoft's analytics and extensive threat intelligence. You stay ahead of evolving cyber threats instead of paying ransom demands.
Reduce your cyber insurance premiums: Insurance companies reward proactive security. Demonstrating 24/7 monitoring through Microsoft Sentinel can significantly reduce premiums. Some insurers now require this level of protection for coverage.
Meet regulatory requirements: Compliance with GDPR and industry regulations becomes demonstrable. Microsoft Sentinel provides the audit trails regulators expect to see.
Predictable security costs: Move from unpredictable crisis spending to manageable monthly costs instead of facing six-figure emergency response bills when attacks succeed.
Scale without security gaps: As your business grows, Microsoft Sentinel scales with you. All data remains under your control, supporting compliance and data sovereignty requirements.
Most security products do roughly the same thing - they watch for threats and respond. Success comes down to implementation and the people managing it.
Who Should You Work With?
Choosing the right partner matters more than choosing the right product. Microsoft Sentinel is powerful, but it needs expert configuration and ongoing management to protect your business effectively.
What separates good partners from average ones:
They've seen your problems before. Security isn't theoretical for them. They've helped businesses recover from attacks, prevented ransomware deployments, and know exactly what sophisticated threats look like in real environments.
They explain things in plain English. If your security partner hides behind jargon or makes you feel stupid for asking questions, find someone else. Good partners translate technical complexity into business decisions you can actually make.
They're honest about limitations. No security solution is perfect. Partners who promise 100% protection are either lying or inexperienced. The best partners tell you where risks remain and how to manage them.
They respond when it matters. Cyber attacks don't wait for business hours. Your security partner should provide 24/7 monitoring and response - not just monitoring with a "we'll call you tomorrow" approach.
They're proactive about your security. They should recommend improvements based on emerging threats, not just maintain what you already have. Security threats evolve. Your protection should too.
At TSG, we've earned Microsoft's highest Azure accreditation and multiple Solutions Partner designations. But what matters more is that we've protected businesses through real attacks - stopped ransomware before encryption began, detected compromised accounts before data theft, and helped organisations recover when prevention wasn't enough. See how we've helped businesses like yours on our Cyber Care page.
How Does It Work? The Process
Implementation doesn't require a complete IT overhaul. Professional onboarding typically takes 2-4 weeks:
Understanding your environment: What systems and data need protection most. Not everything poses equal risk.
Connecting critical systems: Prioritising high-value assets for monitoring first. Your finance system, customer data, and operational systems get protected immediately.
Configuring automated responses: Setting up playbooks for common threats. Automated response happens in minutes, not hours.
Training your team: Ensuring your people understand alerts and responses. Security only works when everyone knows their role.
Ongoing tuning: Refining rules and responses based on your specific threats. Your security adapts as your business evolves.
Work with a partner who understands both the technology and your business requirements. TSG handles the technical complexity so you can focus on running your business.
Best Practices for Maximum Protection
Start with a risk assessment: Perform a Cyber Threat Assessment to identify your specific risks and prioritise protection accordingly. Not all assets face equal risk.
Use expert support: Deploy a dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC) or managed service provider for continuous monitoring. Security experts who've seen every type of attack provide guidance your in-house team can't match.
Integrate with your broader security strategy: Microsoft Sentinel works best alongside other security measures - not as a replacement. A proper multi-layered approach includes Microsoft 365 Defender for endpoint protection, strong access controls, regular backups, user training, and email security. Cyber criminals exploit single points of failure. Layered security ensures that if one defence is breached, others contain the damage.
What Happens Next?
The difference between businesses that survive cyber attacks and those that don't? Proactive monitoring that spots threats before they spread, combined with automated responses that contain damage in minutes, not days.
Start by identifying your most critical systems and data that need protection. Configure monitoring for these high-value assets first. Establish automated responses for common threats.
Don't have the cyber expertise in-house? Check out our TSG Cyber Care page and see what we can do to help.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Microsoft Defender and MS Sentinel?
Microsoft Defender protects specific assets - endpoints, identities, cloud apps, and workloads directly.
Microsoft Sentinel is the central brain that monitors, analyses, and responds to threats across your entire IT environment, including data from Defender products.
The difference between Microsoft Defender and Sentinel? Defender guards individual components. Sentinel watches everything and connects the dots. Used together, you get comprehensive layered security.
How much does Microsoft Sentinel cost?
Microsoft Sentinel pricing is based on data volume - you pay per gigabyte ingested. For typical UK businesses with 100-500 employees, expect £2,000-£8,000 per month.
The real cost comparison: hiring in-house security analysts costs £200,000+ annually, whilst managed security services provide enterprise protection at a fraction of in-house costs.
Is Azure Sentinel Microsoft?
Yes, Azure Sentinel is a Microsoft product. It's part of Microsoft's advanced security offerings within the Azure platform, designed for mission-critical workloads and enterprise security operations.
