Defender Consolidation Program

Consolidate security capabilities into the Microsoft Defender stack with a phased, low-risk programme - baseline, pilot, coexistence, cutover, and operational handover.

Security tooling sprawl increases cost and operational complexity: multiple consoles, duplicated alerting, inconsistent response, and unclear ownership. Microsoft Defender XDR provides a cross-domain threat protection and incident experience designed to help security teams identify, control, and remediate threats across attack surfaces. Microsoft also documents how Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR can be integrated to support incident response workflows in a Zero Trust approach.

LW IT Solutions delivers a Defender consolidation programme that is designed to reduce risk and avoid disruptive ‘big bang’ changes. We baseline your current tools and coverage, map your requirements to Microsoft Defender capabilities, and run a staged rollout with pilot-first onboarding and coexistence where needed. We finish with an operationally mature outcome: clear incident handling workflows, tuned alerts, governance controls, and a decommission plan for legacy tools - so consolidation produces real value, not just a licensing change.

Talk through your requirements and leave with a clear next-step plan.

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Service Overview

Highlights

Phased programme approach to avoid disruptive big-bang migrations
Covers endpoint, identity, email, and cloud app security consolidation into Defender XDR
Focus on SOC-operable outcomes: incident workflows, tuning, and ownership
Supports Defender and Sentinel integration where required
Includes decommission planning so consolidation results in real simplification

Business Benefits

Reduced tool sprawl and operational overhead through a consolidated security platform approach
Improved incident handling with clearer ownership, routing, and investigation workflow consistency
Cost rationalisation through reduced duplication and clearer licensing-to-capability alignment
Higher-quality detections through tuning and an outcome-driven coverage roadmap

Typical use cases

Multiple overlapping endpoint and cloud security tools creating duplicated alerts
Organisations moving from third-party EDR to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Security teams needing consistent incident handling across domains
Rationalising licensing and capability alignment across Microsoft security stack
Preparing to integrate Defender incidents into an existing SOC workflow

Objectives & deliverables

What Success Looks Like

Consolidate security capabilities into Microsoft Defender with minimal disruption
Achieve validated coverage before decommissioning legacy tools
Improve incident response consistency through defined workflows and severity model
Reduce alert noise through tuning and governance controls
Establish an operating model that remains supportable as the environment evolves

What You Get

Consolidation assessment: current tooling inventory, coverage map, and operational pain points
Target architecture and operating model: what lives in Defender vs Sentinel, and how incidents are handled end-to-end
Phased rollout plan: pilot, phased onboarding, coexistence/cutover, decommission
Alert and incident workflow design: severity model, routing, escalation, and evidence handling
Governance pack: onboarding checklist, exception approvals, and change control to prevent drift
Decommission plan: exit approach for legacy tooling (when safe and agreed), including stakeholder and supplier considerations

How It Works

Baseline - inventory existing security tools, data sources, workflows, and pain points; confirm success criteria.
Design - map requirements to Defender capabilities and define a target operating model (including Sentinel integration where required).
Pilot - onboard a controlled scope and validate alerting, incidents, and response workflows; tune to reduce noise.
Scale - phased onboarding across workloads; implement governance and reporting cadence; manage coexistence.
Cutover & decommission - execute controlled cutover and decommission legacy tooling when coverage and operations are proven.
Operationalise - handover runbooks and backlog for continuous improvement.

Engagement Options

Assessment & Plan - current-state review and phased consolidation roadmap
Pilot First - implement a controlled Defender pilot with tuning and workflow validation
Phased Consolidation - staged onboarding across multiple workloads with coexistence and cutover
Operate - ongoing tuning, governance, and support for Defender-led operations

Common Bundles

Customers who use this service often bundle with these services

Defender for Endpoint (EDR)
Deploy and operationalise Defender for Endpoint with phased onboarding, tuned policies, and clear triage workflows across managed device estates.

Defender for Identity (MDI)
Deploy Microsoft Defender for Identity to detect identity attacks through sensor rollout, validated coverage, and operational alerting in hybrid environments.

Defender for Office 365 (Email Security)
Deploy Defender for Office 365 with tuned anti-phish policies, safe links, and sustainable investigation workflows for email security.

Defender for Cloud Apps (CASB)
Discover SaaS usage, govern shadow IT, and apply session controls using Defender for Cloud Apps aligned to your security operations.

Defender for Cloud (CSPM/CWPP)
Baseline cloud security posture and protect workloads using Microsoft Defender for Cloud, covering CSPM governance, recommendations and targeted workload protection.

Sentinel Deployment & Integration
Deploy Microsoft Sentinel with structured data onboarding, workspace design, RBAC, and detection content so your SOC operates effectively and predictably.

Legacy SIEM to Microsoft Sentinel Migration
Migrate legacy SIEM detections, workflows and data into Microsoft Sentinel with phased cutover that maintains monitoring continuity for security operations teams.

MDR/SOC Integration & Operating Model
Integrate Microsoft security tools with SOC or MDR providers, establishing triage, escalation paths, reporting and SLAs for consistent incident handling.

SOC Use-Case & Detection Engineering
Define SOC detection use cases and engineer Microsoft Sentinel analytics rules mapped to risk, reducing noise and improving incident focus.

Log Analytics Cost Optimisation
Reduce Microsoft Sentinel and Log Analytics costs through ingestion controls, table strategy, retention and archive while preserving security outcomes.