From Visibility to Control: How Kadant Took Ownership of Their Microsoft Environment

The Challenge: Uncertainty Around Security and Licensing

Kadant was operating in a largely hybrid IT environment with over 25 global sites, many of which had disparate or decentralized approaches to IT management. The company had several key challenges:

• Security Concerns: Kadant’s global IT team was unsure of their Microsoft security posture. While they had deployed Microsoft 365 and Defender, they lacked a comprehensive understanding of their coverage, configuration, and exposure across entities.

• Licensing Visibility: Kadant wasn’t confident in whether they were over-licensed, under-licensed, or simply misaligned. With such a large and diverse user base, identifying what they owned versus what they actually needed was unclear.

• Global Complexity: With IT leads in different countries making purchasing decisions independently, the company lacked a centralized view of user licensing, device management, and policy enforcement.

• Stretched Internal Resources: The lean corporate IT team had competing priorities and didn’t have the time to manually audit security tools and licensing data across each subsidiary.

Initial Engagement: Microsoft Licensing and Cloud Security Assessment

CloudServus began the partnership with Kadant through a two-pronged engagement:

1. Microsoft Licensing Assessment - CloudServus performed a comprehensive analysis of Kadant’s current Microsoft 365 entitlements, usage, and spending across all global entities. This included mapping SKU ownership, aligning it to user roles, and uncovering areas of waste and overspend.

2. Cloud Security Assessment - At the same time, CloudServus conducted a security deep dive into Kadant’s Microsoft 365 and Defender configurations. This analysis revealed how each global entity was using security tools like Defender for Endpoint, Identity Protection, and Purview—and highlighted major gaps in deployment and enforcement.

Each assessment was delivered with a clear, visualized report that laid out the current state and provided prioritized recommendations for action.

The Solution: Building a Foundation for Centralized Governance

The CloudServus team helped Kadant take the first step toward centralized governance and greater IT clarity by providing:

• An Actionable Security Roadmap: Instead of a generic security audit, the assessment gave Kadant a clear path to improving enforcement of Microsoft security tools—broken down by tool, site, and priority level.

• Clear Visibility Into Licensing Gaps: CloudServus clarified which SKUs were needed by which users, identified duplication and unused licenses, and delivered strategic recommendations to reduce spend while maintaining security and productivity.

• Stakeholder Education Across Entities: The engagement also included collaborative workshops with international IT leads to walk through findings and ensure shared understanding and buy-in.

• Executive-Level Insights for Decision-Making: The final reports were presented not just to technical stakeholders, but to finance and executive leadership—equipping decision-makers with the data needed to plan smarter global licensing and security investments.