Increment tightens data security for Australia’s public schools

May 19, 2026

Educational institutions manage large volumes of sensitive information about students—data that is both highly personal and increasingly vulnerable. In an era of AI-accelerated threats, sensitive information is a frequent target of cyberattacks, and education systems often need support to safeguard the information in complex, resource constrained school environments.

Increment, a pure-play Microsoft partner consultancy founded by former enterprise technology leaders, knows how to provide that security. The team, which operates in the Australia and New Zealand market, had already deeply adopted Microsoft technology within its own operations—including early rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot and end to end use of Dynamics 365 and Purview. Their Customer Zero approach and demonstrated expertise earned them the 2025 Partner of the Year Award for Data Security and Compliance.

The team’s disciplined use of Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program benefits, such as Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) funding, positioned them to help education agencies rapidly reduce risk and build scalable data governance practices. And they started with the largest public school system in Australia, partnering closely with Microsoft to strengthen data security across multiple school systems.

Protecting millions of student identities amid growing threats

Public school systems in Australia are cumulatively responsible for millions of students, thousands of schools, and massive identity systems that must function reliably across distributed networks, diverse devices, and high daily data flow. And they must do this while fending off near-constant cyberattacks.

“Every day, these guys are getting attacked at levels that only banks see,” said Andre Herbst, Director of Growth and Partnerships for Increment.

At the same time, the education system was under pressure to modernize quickly. The volume of data they managed was massive: in Queensland alone, the fleet included tens of thousands of managed endpoints that required consistent policy enforcement. And with AI related risks rising, education agencies needed assurance that foundational data protections would support future adoption of generative AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Scaling a proven Customer Zero model nationwide

Increment began working with the New South Wales Department of Education, the largest public education system in Australia with more than one million users. The teams had worked together before when Increment supported the department’s transition to Microsoft Sentinel and a single, Microsoft-powered ecosystem.

Through the MCI offering—formerly known as Customer Success Investment (CSI)—Increment delivered a Data Security Workshop to create a multiyear roadmap for data protection and governance. The roadmap clarified readiness, defined priority risks, and established the foundation for Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention.

Next, Increment built a repeatable delivery model that paired Microsoft-funded envisioning with structured execution steps. Because Increment had already created internal processes around data handling and AI readiness with Microsoft solutions, they could guide the department in building sustainable operating models.

All along the way, Increment partnered with Microsoft, leveraging the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program for additional funding and resources. The team used End-Customer Investment Funds (ECIF) from Microsoft to accelerate early implementation.

“Partnering with Microsoft is a force multiplier … I’ve never seen anything this quick,” said Herbst. “It’s like having a secret investor in your business.”

The first deployment with New South Wales was essential to demonstrating the solution’s value. “A large organization needs to see something operating successfully somewhere else before they’ll jump into it,” explained Melinda McKenzie, Chief Operating Officer at Increment. “The industry follows very quickly as soon as they can see that one of the core organizations has been successful.”

With the approach validated, Increment and Microsoft moved on to the Departments of Education in Queensland and Victoria. Together with New South Wales, these departments are responsible for more than 70% of the country’s public school students. Each engagement began with understanding how sensitive information flowed across the organization, then applying Microsoft Purview to identify and classify data. From there, Increment worked with departments to activate controls across Microsoft 365 workloads and Defender security tools—always with a strong focus on operational alignment, building internal capability, and ongoing maturity.

Stronger protections today and a pathway to secure AI adoption

Increment’s disciplined integration of Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program incentives consistently lowered barriers for the Departments of Education to begin working with them, and their Customer Zero approach ensured credibility in advising on emerging AI capabilities like Microsoft 365 Copilot. By blending Microsoft investments, deep product expertise, and a replicable approach, Increment built a scalable model for strengthening data protection across Australia’s education sector.

Activating Microsoft Purview at scale supported alignment of operating models around data governance, empowering departments with visibility into sensitive information and strengthening safeguards for hundreds of thousands of students in each region.

• New South Wales: Discovered 40.8 million items containing sensitive information across Microsoft 365, creating a foundation for long term data protection for 1.2 million users.
• Queensland: Scanned 980 million files, identified 152 million with sensitive information, and drove $9.43 million* in Microsoft 365 A3 to A5 uplift revenue via Microsoft program investments.
• Victoria: Implemented Microsoft Purview and Sentinel capabilities and controls that generated $500,000+ in new Microsoft security revenue while advancing statewide data governance maturity.

Collectively, these and similar efforts across the country mean Microsoft Purview now protects 77% of students enrolled in Australia’s public school system. For Increment, though, this is only the beginning—and they’re excited to take both their solutions and their partnership with Microsoft further.

“Partners don’t realize how lucky they are to work in this ecosystem,” said Herbst. “Doing it with Microsoft is amazing …. We win together.”

With strong adoption across education, Increment is already applying the same playbook to other industries facing sensitive data challenges. Healthcare organizations, first responder agencies, and financial institutions are now adopting similar approaches after seeing large education departments succeed. Increment is extending their Purview driven data security model to help prepare these sectors for adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and emerging AI capabilities.

*Throughout this document, $ refers to USD.