7 Benefits of Microsoft Sentinel That Improve Security Operations
IT and security leaders are under increasing pressure from their executives to detect threats faster, respond with precision in real time, and reduce their costs, all while ensuring compliance and business continuity. It’s a tall order, but overall a necessary one when you consider the frequency of high-profile cyberattacks reported in the media.
In the search for a solution to these threats, it’s important to understand the benefits of Microsoft Sentinel and how it can help organisations meet these ever-evolving demands.
Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native solution that combines Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) capabilities, is part of Microsoft’s Extended Detection and Response (XDR) cyber security suite. It’s responsible for helping organisations fulfil business objectives as part of a comprehensive solution to help defend against modern-day cyberattacks.
In the constantly evolving cyber security landscape, businesses are constantly seeking the right solutions that offer cyber protection without stretching resources or compromising on efficiency.
In this guide, we’ll explore the top 7 benefits of Microsoft Sentinel and how DigitalXRAID’s expert-led, fully managed Microsoft Sentinel SOC service offers a cost-effective solution to unlock the full potential of your business.
Key Takeaways
- Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM and SOAR platform that delivers scalable, AI-driven threat detection and automated response across hybrid environments.
- Key benefits include fast deployment, native Microsoft integration, and powerful automation, helping teams reduce dwell time and alert fatigue.
- Sentinel simplifies compliance reporting and regulatory alignment with support for frameworks like NIS2, DORA, and the Cyber Resilience Act.
- Its pay-as-you-go pricing and built-in cost management tools help align security spend with actual usage — ideal for growing businesses.
- A Managed Sentinel Service ensures expert configuration, reduced ingestion costs, and 24/7 SOC support, unlocking the platform’s full potential.
Why Microsoft Sentinel Is Gaining Momentum
Microsoft Sentinel, previously known as Microsoft Azure Sentinel, is a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform that leverages the power of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cloud computing.
Unlike traditional SIEMs, Microsoft’s innovative solution is designed to provide a comprehensive solution for threat detection, event management, and security orchestration, all while being scalable and cost-effective.
Microsoft has committed more than $20 billion in R&D per year since 2021, which has seen its platform advance capabilities that surpass competitors in the market. Microsoft’s recent enhancements, including its unique blend of SIEM and extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities, offer a comprehensive security operations platform. Clients using Microsoft Defender can even benefit from data ingestion discounts.
Recently, organisations have been moving away from legacy SIEM tools that are difficult to scale, expensive to maintain, and lack the advanced automation needed to respond quickly to cyberattacks. Microsoft Sentinel is gaining traction as a modern, AI-powered alternative that’s designed more specifically for today’s hybrid environments.
The Rise of Cloud-Native SIEM Platforms
Traditional SIEMs require heavy infrastructure to implement and maintain, and can be slow in adapting to changing security demands. Microsoft Sentinel’s cloud-native design removes these barriers, offering rapid deployment, seamless updates, and the ability to scale as needed, all without the overheads associated with previous SIEM solutions.
What Makes Microsoft Sentinel Different from Traditional Tools
Unlike conventional SIEMs, Microsoft Sentinel is built to integrate effortlessly with Microsoft 365, Azure, and the Microsoft Defender suite, as well as Microsoft’s other security tooling, such as Microsoft Purview for data governance. It provides powerful automation, data visualisation, and compliance tools out of the box, often included in your Microsoft licences, all while eliminating the need for bolt-on solutions.
Microsoft has been recognised as an industry leader for years by analyst firms such as Gartner and Forrester for Security Information and Event Management. Their top position on the Ability to Execute axis underscores their commitment to delivering a state-of-the-art, AI-driven cloud native SIEM.
Clients such as iHeartMedia and Pearson VUE have already reaped Microsoft Sentinel benefits. iHeartMedia chose Microsoft Sentinel for its cost efficiency; their CISO, Janet Heins, praised its all-encompassing visibility and intelligence to combine data from multiple systems, including firewalls, domain controllers, and more.
Pearson VUE’s Enterprise Architect, Vladan Pulec, consolidated visibility by migrating to Microsoft Sentinel, while also benefiting from reduced infrastructure costs.
So, why choose Microsoft Sentinel over other SIEM tools?
Top Benefits of Microsoft Sentinel
Traditional SIEM tools now often fall short in addressing the multivector threats of the modern world. As part of a managed XDR service, Microsoft offers a suite of features tailored to combat security threats.
Microsoft Sentinel provides many benefits, including:
- Easy Setup: Its cloud-based nature means businesses can bypass the heavy infrastructure that traditional SIEMs demand. This ensures a hassle-free setup process, saving both time and resources.
- Reduced Downtime: The platform’s proactive threat detection minimises potential downtime. It ensures that business operations run smoothly, even in the face of emerging threats.
- Automated Threat Detection and Response: It excels in quickly identifying correlated security events and sending alerts for immediate investigation.
- Hybrid Environment Management: Whether your data is on-premises, in Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or other platforms, it offers seamless integration and management.
- Data Normalisation: By reformatting data into a consistent format, it can be easily correlated as part of log management. This simplification ensures that data analytics is more accessible and actionable for security teams.
- Seamless Data Collection with Connectors: Microsoft Sentinel has built-in connectors, which ensure that data collection from various platforms is seamless, further enhancing its data analytics capabilities.
- Data Aggregation: Streamline the process of gathering security data from every corner of your hybrid organisation, be it devices, users, apps, or servers across any cloud platform.
- Better Data-Driven Decisions: The advanced data analytics and query language capabilities empower you to make informed, data-driven decisions, ensuring a proactive approach to threats.
- Better Threat Hunting: By integrating seamlessly with tools like Microsoft Defender, you can proactively search for and neutralise threats.
- Single Pane of Glass: Consolidating security data from across the organisation into one unified view allows for streamlined monitoring and management. This centralised approach ensures that security teams have a comprehensive overview of the entire security landscape.
- Alerts and Incident Organisation: Security teams can prioritise genuine threats, reducing the noise often associated with security alerts.
- Security Threat Root Causes Investigation: Microsoft Sentinel’s in-depth investigative capabilities ensure that threats are neutralised and understood, so you can better prepare against future challenges.
- Scalability: The cloud-native design ensures unparalleled scalability. As your business grows, you have the ability to scale your security infrastructure as needs change.
- Compliance: The platform assists businesses in adhering to various regulatory standards. Through security monitoring and detailed security control reports, companies can effectively showcase their alignment with regulatory mandates.
Let’s dive into these in more detail – here are the 7 key benefits of Microsoft Sentinel for your business.
Benefit 1: Fast, Scalable Cloud Deployment
No Hardware or Infrastructure Overhead
Microsoft Sentinel’s cloud-based architecture removes the need for on-premises infrastructure. This means faster deployment, less complexity, and no upfront capital expenditure on servers or storage.
Easily Grows with Your Business and Threat Landscape
Whether your business is expanding or your security needs are becoming more complex, Microsoft Sentinel can scale as your needs change. As data ingestion grows, your SIEM will adapt without a full re-architecture.
Benefit 2: Seamless Microsoft Ecosystem Integration
Built for Microsoft 365, Azure and Defender
Microsoft Sentinel integrates natively with the Microsoft Defender suite, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft 365, and all of the other tools in the Microsoft Security ecosystem. This enables more effective threat correlation and response.
Single Pane of Glass Visibility
Consolidating your security insights into one centralised dashboard gives you and your security teams a unified view. This allows them to detect, investigate, and respond to threats faster and more efficiently across your entire digital estate.
Benefit 3: Advanced Threat Detection with AI and Automation
Automated Response Workflows Reduce Analyst Load
Microsoft Sentinel provides built-in playbooks that will trigger automated responses to specific alerts. These workflows can streamline remediation and reduce manual intervention, which frees up security analysts to focus on high-value tasks such as dark web monitoring and threat intelligence for a proactive stance to protecting your business.
AI-Powered Correlation Improves Detection Accuracy
Using Microsoft’s advanced machine learning (ML) models and global threat intelligence, Microsoft Sentinel filters out noise and highlights the incident alerts that matter most. This improves your detection accuracy and therefore reduces the time to respond (MTTR).
This targeted approach allows your SOC team to determine if a breach has occurred and take action immediately by executing your incident response playbooks. This mitigates any threats in real time, thereby minimising potential damage. The advanced machine learning algorithms present only the most critical security incidents to analysts. This efficient filtering reduces noise and ensures that genuine threats are prioritised.
Integration with the Microsoft Graph Security API allows you to import custom threat intelligence feeds. This enhances your threat detection early in the cyber kill chain and customises alert rules.
Benefit 4: Flexible, Consumption-Based Pricing
Aligns Cost with Usage
Microsoft Sentinel uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model, so you only pay for what you use. This is particularly valuable for businesses with fluctuating workloads or limited budgets.
Built-in Cost Management Tools
Microsoft Sentinel includes dashboards to track data ingestion and associated costs. However, connecting Microsoft Defender to your Microsoft Sentinel SIEM will bring additional data ingestion charges, which can spiral out of control without proper implementation and tuning from experienced SOC engineers.
You can plan for these costs in advance. Ask us about a free proof of concept to understand what your data ingestion charges will look like with Microsoft Sentinel.
Benefit 5: Accelerated Incident Response
Real-Time Alerts and Playbooks
Microsoft Sentinel’s ability to deliver real-time alerts and subsequently initiate automated workflows accelerates incident triage and response. This helps reduce dwell time and limits the potential impact of attacks on your business and reputation.
Native SOAR Capabilities
Unlike other SIEMs that require third-party SOAR tools, Microsoft Sentinel includes automation natively. This simplifies operations and helps teams respond to threats consistently and at speed.
Benefit 6: Simplified Compliance and Reporting
Pre-Built Workbooks and Audit Tools
Microsoft Sentinel includes workbooks for visualising alerts, compliance metrics, and policy enforcement, streamlining your preparation for compliance audits and regulatory reviews.
Aligns Easily with Regulation and Compliance Mandates
Support for key regulatory frameworks like DORA, NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is built in, making Microsoft Sentinel a strong fit if you’re a compliance-driven organisation.
Benefit 7: Easier Management Through a Managed SOC
Avoid Alert Fatigue and Misconfiguration
Microsoft Sentinel is powerful, but as we’ve mentioned, without proper management, it can overwhelm teams with data ingestion and alerts or be misconfigured, which will ultimately lead to missed threats, which are a risk to your business. That’s where DigitalXRAID’s expertise comes in.
Why Microsoft Sentinel and DigitalXRAID’s SOC Makes a Smarter Strategy
As a certified Microsoft Security Solutions Partner with Threat Protection specialisation, DigitalXRAID helps organisations get more from Microsoft Sentinel with our Managed Microsoft Sentinel Service. Our CREST and NCSC-accredited SOC engineers, analysts, and CTI specialists will:
- Fully configure and tune your Microsoft Sentinel deployment for optimal performance
- Provide 24/7 monitoring, detection and response
- Reduce unnecessary data ingestion and improve detection rates
We’ve already helped businesses save thousands. One customer reduced their monthly Microsoft spend by 96% once our team had tuned and optimised their log ingestion. Another saw savings of £21,400 per month after we reduced their data ingestion by 5TB — all while enhancing their security posture.
Real World Microsoft Sentinel Case Study
DigitalXRAID helped to mature the threat monitoring and response for a public sector ombudsman client. Rather than incur huge costs to implement tooling and recruit and maintain personnel for 24/7 threat protection, the Public Sector Ombudsman identified that outsourcing to cybersecurity experts was the best solution.
DigitalXRAID provides security incident reports, logs of threat detection and response, and usage reports of cloud app security policies using Defender for Cloud. DigitalXRAID also reports on email threat protection logs, malware and phishing detection reports, and documentation of security policy enforcement using Defender for Office. Threat detection reports, user activity logs, and incident response documentation demonstrate the active monitoring and mitigation efforts each month, using Defender for Identity.
The Public Sector Ombudsman’s SOC service with full implementation of Microsoft Sentinel and other Microsoft Security Suite solutions, now protects all of its 450 employees, and has full visibility of all infrastructure and systems to monitor and detect any threats or suspicious activity on a 24/7/365 basis.
Since deployment, DigitalXRAID has been able to neutralise any incidents within minutes, notifying the Ombudsman of the severity of any incidents that occur. Incidents and activity are also visible in real-time for the Ombudsman through its unified security portal dashboard.
Read the full case study here.
Final Thoughts: Turning the Benefits of Microsoft Sentinel Into Business Value
Microsoft Sentinel delivers the speed, automation, and scalability that modern businesses need to stay secure. But tools alone aren’t enough without the expertise to deploy and manage them effectively.
By partnering with DigitalXRAID’s Managed Microsoft Sentinel Service, you get:
- A team of highly certified and experienced experts to manage and optimise your environment
- A Managed SOC Service that never sleeps and will operate as an extension of your own team
- Cost consolidation and savings, all while bringing improved detection and response
Ready to maximise your Microsoft investment and stay ahead of emerging threats? Get in touch with our consultants to discover the benefits of Microsoft Sentinel optimisation or request your free Proof of Concept.
