Source: Pixabay
If you want your company to succeed in its digital transformation efforts, you should fully capitalize on your available technology resources. The Microsoft 365 Adoption Score is one solution that can help you make full use of Microsoft 365’s services. In short, you can use the Adoption Score to keep track of how your company uses and adopts the various Microsoft 365 components. Consequently, you can see if you’re underutilizing any of these components and take action if necessary.
In this article, I’ll explain what the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score is, how to access it, and how to interpret it.
What Is the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score?
Even though Microsoft has only recently introduced the Adoption Score feature for Microsoft 365, the Adoption Score and the concepts behind it aren’t entirely new. In fact, Microsoft has a long history of scoring Microsoft 365 behavior.
If you manage a Microsoft 365 environment, you may be familiar with the Secure Score and the Identity Secure Score. These components assign a point value to various security features and give you a score based on how many of those security features you have enabled. The higher your score, the more secure your company presumably is.
The Microsoft 365 Adoption Score, which can trace its roots back to the now defunct Productivity Score, works similarly. Specifically, it uses metrics to help you figure out which Microsoft 365 applications and features your users are and aren’t using.
Next, I’ll cover how you can access the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score.
Accessing the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score
You can access the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score through the Microsoft 365 administrative console. To find your company’s Adoption Score, simply follow these steps:
- Log in as an administrator and then open the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
- Click the “Show all” option at the bottom of the list of tabs on the left side of the screen
- Click on the Reports tab
- Click on the Adoption Score tab
It’s as simple as that! You can now take advantage of what the Adoption Score has to offer you. However, right now, you might be wondering, “How exactly can I interpret all this information?”
Interpreting the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score
The Microsoft 365 Adoption Score uses 8 categories to calculate your company’s Adoption Score. To clarify, each of these categories is worth up to 100 points, with the maximum score being 800. Below is a simple table that lists each category and what they represent/reflect.
| Category | What does this category represent/reflect? |
| Communication | Number of users who use two or more communication methods |
| Meetings | Number of users who participate in online meetings |
| Content Collaboration | Amount of people in your company who collaborate on Office documents |
| Teamwork | Percentage of people in your company who actively contribute to shared workspaces |
| Mobility | How users access Microsoft 365 resources (single device vs multiple devices) |
| Endpoint Analytics | The time needed for device setup and startup process (Note that this score isn’t available with every Microsoft 365 plan) |
| Network Connectivity | Your network’s reliability (low score indicates that your network infrastructure has issues that you need to address) |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Health | The version of Microsoft 365 apps your users run (using older versions results in a lower score) |
How to View Your Adoption Score
It’s worth noting that the Adoption Score report displays a score for each of these metrics, as well as an overall score. Additionally, you can see your scores alongside a peer benchmark. This allows you to see how your scores stack up against other companies that are of a similar size.
It’s also worth pointing out that you can access metrics that are far more detailed than those shown in the previous screen capture. Clicking on any of the charts takes you to a screen that breaks down the metrics in exhaustive detail. You can see an example of the detailed Content Collaboration metrics in the screenshot below.
Time to recap!
The Bottom Line
The Microsoft 365 Adoption Score can help you see how your company uses Microsoft 365’s services. It provides you with detailed metrics and insights. You can use this information to drive a stronger adoption rate for apps that you’re underutilizing.
While this information is very useful, higher scores don’t always necessarily reflect greater levels of operational efficiency. Having said that, it’s important to consider your business’s needs rather than changing practices solely to attain a higher score.
I hope you found this article interesting and informative. Feel free to refer to it in the future should you need a quick refresher.
Do you have more questions about the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score? Check out the FAQ and Resources sections below!
FAQ
What is the benefit to tracking Microsoft 365 adoption rates, besides digital transformation?
You have a few possible benefits to consider. For instance, let’s say you discovered that some users weren’t using certain Microsoft 365 features. Depending on what those features are, you could reduce your licensing costs by switching to a different subscription plan.
Realistically, how important is it to get a good Microsoft 365 Adoption Score?
Overall, the Adoption Score exists solely to help your company track its Microsoft 365 adoption. You won’t have a penalty for having a low Adoption Score. Furthermore, a low Adoption Score doesn’t mean that you’re doing anything wrong. It only means that users aren’t using everything available to them within your company’s Microsoft 365 subscription.
Why does the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score seem to encourage multiple forms of communication?
Part of your Adoption Score reflects how many forms of communication your users take advantage of in Microsoft 365. The important thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft doesn’t know how your business works or what your workflows look like. In some businesses, it may make sense from a business perspective to funnel all communications through one channel (such as email). Other businesses might be better off using a combination of email, Microsoft Teams, etc. The important thing is to do what’s best for your company, and that’s not necessarily the same as doing what could get you the highest Adoption Score.
When I look at the score history, why does my Adoption Score occasionally go down?
When you see dips in your company’s Adoption Score, those dips often represent days when users weren’t using Microsoft 365 as heavily as they normally would. For example, you might see a decreased score on holidays or during periods when a lot of users are on vacation.
Which products does the Microsoft 365 Adoption Score evaluate?
The Adoption Score evaluates the apps that your users interact with the most. In essence, they’re the most commonly used Microsoft 365 apps out there. According to Microsoft, these apps include SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OneNote, Outlook, Skype, and Yammer.
Resources
TechGenix: Article on Microsoft 365 Device Inconsistencies
Learn more about deciphering Microsoft 365 device inconsistencies.
TechGenix: Article on Microsoft 365 Security
Read about the importance of Microsoft 365 security for your environment.
TechGenix: Article on Cloud Infrastructure Adoption
Discover the five keys to successful cloud infrastructure adoption.
TechGenix: Article on Device Management for Microsoft 365
Educate yourself on how to manage your devices easily for Microsoft 365.
Microsoft: Adoption Score
Find out more information about the Microsoft Adoption Score.
