Royal Brass & Hose Unlocks the Full Value of Microsoft Security to Drive Modernization
How a fully funded security engagement helped turn underutilized Microsoft tools into a nearly 90 Secure Score
“We’ve gone from about a 40 to nearly a 90 Microsoft Secure Score.”
- Kenneth Breeden
Director, Information Technology
Overview
Royal Brass & Hose is an industrial distributor supporting OEMs and manufacturers across the southeastern United States. With approximately 200 employees across 11 offices, the organization depends on Microsoft Technologies to support core business functions, including accounting, purchasing, sales, customer service, marketing, warehouse operations, and IT.
As part of a broader IT modernization effort, Royal Brass & Hose began evaluating how effectively its Microsoft investments were supporting long-term goals around security, scalability, and operational efficiency.
The Challenge
As Royal Brass & Hose modernized its IT environment, the organization began taking a closer look at how its infrastructure and security approach would support long-term growth. Like many organizations transitioning away from legacy systems, Royal Brass & Hose relied on a combination of on-premises infrastructure and third-party security tools to address specific needs across the business.
This approach made it difficult to fully understand and take advantage of the integrated security capabilities already available within Microsoft 365. While the IT team felt confident in its overall security mindset, it lacked experience configuring and operationalizing Microsoft’s enterprise-grade security tooling.
That challenge was compounded by several practical realities:
- A lean IT operations team supporting the broader business
- Limited experience with Microsoft enterprise-grade licensing and the security features that come with it
- A prior Microsoft provider that was slow and unresponsive, even for routine licensing changes
“We felt confident in our security approach, just not with the Microsoft security tooling. There was a knowledge gap.”
— Kenneth Breeden
Royal Brass & Hose needed help closing that knowledge gap, without adding complexity or burden to a team already focused on supporting day-to-day operations and ongoing modernization initiatives.
The Approach
Royal Brass & Hose partnered with TierPoint, initially to address Microsoft 365 licensing challenges. That conversation quickly expanded when TierPoint introduced a Microsoft-funded security assessment, designed to help organizations better understand and activate the Microsoft security capabilities they already own.
The engagement was delivered over several weeks through focused working sessions helping Royal Brass & Hose move toward a more integrated, Microsoft-native security approach, leveraging tools such as Microsoft Defender, Intune, and Entra ID. TierPoint worked closely with the IT team through a series of structured working sessions to assess the environment, identify security gaps, and deliver clear, prioritized recommendations aligned to business needs.
Rather than overwhelming the team with change, the focus was on practical guidance and enablement, helping the internal team understand which actions would deliver the most value and how to implement them effectively.
“If the funding hadn’t been available, we probably would have tried to do it ourselves—but it would have taken significantly longer.”
— Kenneth Breeden
The engagement was intentionally designed to fit around daily operations, enabling progress without disrupting ongoing business activity.
“I wouldn’t have called it a burden at all. It fit easily into our schedule.”
— Kenneth Breeden
The Outcome
By implementing the majority of TierPoint’s recommendations, Royal Brass & Hose achieved rapid, measurable improvements in its Microsoft security posture.
Most notably, the organization’s Microsoft Secure Score increased from approximately 40 to nearly 90, reflecting stronger configuration, improved governance, and more consistent security controls across users and locations. The improved Secure Score provided the IT team with a clearer, ongoing benchmark for security posture and progress.
“We’ve gone from about a 40 to nearly a 90 Microsoft Secure Score.”
— Kenneth Breeden
Beyond the score itself, the engagement significantly compressed Royal Brass & Hose’s modernization timeline. What the IT team expected would take years of internal learning and experimentation was instead accomplished in months, allowing the team to move forward with greater confidence and focus on higher-value priorities.
“It put us ahead of schedule by a long shot.”
— Kenneth Breeden
At A Glance
Industy
Manufacturing & Industrial Distribution
Product
Microsoft 365 (Enterprise Licensing)
Microsoft Security (Defender, Intune, Entra ID)
TierPoint Professional Services
Challenges
Royal Brass & Hose needed to modernize its security approach and better utilize Microsoft security tools already available within its Microsoft 365 environment.
Solutions
TierPoint delivered a Microsoft-funded security engagement, helping Royal Brass & Hose assess gaps, prioritize improvements, and activate tools including Microsoft Defender, Intune, and Entra ID.
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