The 10 Challenges Of Building An In-House SOC

Building a credible 24x7x365 In-House SOC is a multi-million-pound, multi-year commitment. The biggest costs are people and telemetry. Independent research shows most firms face long time-to-hire, rising salaries, high stress and growing data volumes. Consolidating on Microsoft Security with a managed MXDR provider like CyberOne cuts Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Time-to-Value (TTV) while improving measurable outcomes. 

Assumptions 

• Organisation Size:  300-5,000 employees in the UK.
• The Goal: A 24x7x365 SOC with tiered analysts, an IR function, and SIEM/SOAR.
• Log Ingestion Baseline: 500-1,500 GB per day across endpoints, identity, email and cloud. 

1) High Initial Investment 

Standing up a 24x7 SOC requires people, platforms, content, and processes. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study on Microsoft Sentinel shows a composite organisation spending US $607k in year 1 on log ingestion at 500 GB/day, rising to US $1.2m in year 2 and US$ 1.8m in year 3 as volumes scale [Source: The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Sentinel, Forrester, 2024]. 

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM with commitment tiers and an M365 data grant that lowers ingest costs. CyberOne sizes reserved capacity, prioritises high-value telemetry and operates in your Microsoft environment so data ownership stays simple.  

2) Talent Acquisition & Retention 

The market is tight and stressful. ISACA finds 66% of professionals say stress is much higher than five years ago, and 3-6 months is the most common time-to-fill for cyber roles [Source: State of Cybersecurity 2024, ISACA]. Hiring gaps push up the mean time to detect and respond as analysts stretch, burn out and churn. 

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

Skip the hiring bottleneck. CyberOne delivers a ready-made, AI-augmented, CREST-accredited 24×7x365 SOC run in your Microsoft tenant, plus an on-call path to NCSC Cyber Incident Response (Standard) via retainer or call-off. You gain SLA-backed outcomes from day one, with named owners, playbooks and monthly reporting that keep standards steady as teams change. 

3) 24x7 Operational Coverage 

Running three shifts needs depth and cover for holidays and sickness. INOC says the absolute minimum for a 24x7x365 NOC is 10-12 people, which implies multiple FTE per seat for proper coverage. [Source: INOC]   

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

Human-led, AI-augmented detections across devices, identities, email and SaaS with 24×7×365 cover in your Microsoft tenant. Our analysts investigate and guide responses; automation speeds triage; approvals happen in Microsoft Teams; and escalation follows NCSC Cyber Incident Response (Standard). 

4) Rapidly Evolving Threat Landscape 

Identity attacks rose 32% in H1 2025, and destructive cloud campaigns jumped 87% year on year [Source: Microsoft - Digital Defence Report 2025].  

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

CyberOne turns Microsoft licences into outcomes, deploying 1,000+ tuned detections in hours, then tailors rules, playbooks and policies to your estate and regulatory needs - not out of the box defaults. We raise utilisation of Defender XDR and Sentinel, adopt new Microsoft features and enhancements quickly, and evidence ROI with monthly KPIs and change logs. 

5) Integration Of Technology 

Siloed tools inflate cost and create blind spots. Forrester’s TEI on Microsoft Defender found a 242% three-year ROI driven by tool reduction and SecOps efficiencies powered by automation and AI [Source: The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Defender, Forrester, 2025].  

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

 Defender XDR and Sentinel provide a single view across devices, identities, email, and the cloud, operated in your tenant by CyberOne. Microsoft Teams is the live communications channel for alerts, context and approvals with our AI-augmented analysts, building an audit trail and cutting handoffs. Backed by a 24×7 CREST-accredited SOC with a clear path to NCSC Cyber Incident Response (Standard). 

6) Cyber Incident Response Expertise 

Most teams don’t handle big incidents often, so skills fade. Microsoft’s 2025 Digital Defence Report shows attackers are already collecting data in 80% of responder engagements and exfiltrating it in 51%. In plain terms, if detection or approvals are slow, you get data loss. The fix is to pre-approve playbooks, automate the first 15 minutes, run regular drills, keep 24x7 cover and give the incident lead clear authority to isolate and contain [Source: Microsoft - Digital Defence Report 2025].  

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

NCSC- and CREST-accredited incident responders use Microsoft playbooks for containment, eradication, and recovery, so actions are fast, repeatable, and aligned with your environment. Pre-approved actions, named owners and a single Teams war-room path remove delay and capture an audit trail you can share. 

7) Data Compliance & Regulatory Requirements 

NCSC advises defining a SOC target operating model and proportionate services so investment aligns to risk, not tool lists [Source: NCSC Building a SOC buyer’s guide, 2024]. Annual SaaS spend has hit $4,830 per employee, increasing the audit surface across cloud services [Zylo - SaaS Management Index 2025]. 

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

CyberOne’s Client Portal records timelines, approvals and artefacts with control mappings for CE, CE+ and ISO 27001, so audits are simpler and the evidence lifts straight into board packs. 

8) Scalability 

Log volumes and use cases grow faster than budgets. Forrester’s Sentinel study shows data rising from 500 to 1,500 GB/day in three years, tripling ingestion cost if unmanaged [Source: TEI of Microsoft Sentinel, Forrester, 2024]. 

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

We right-size ingest with commitment tiers and built-in Microsoft log allowances where applicable, then automate triage so time to detect and time to contain trend down. 

9) Monitoring Overload 

Alert fatigue erodes performance. Multiple surveys show teams cannot review all alerts. Public summaries cite 50%+ false positives and escalating volumes, contributing to burnout [Source: SANS SOC Survey 2024].   

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:

CyberOne’s AI-augmented triage rolls related alerts into incidents and suppresses noise so analysts investigate what really matters. 

10) Cost Of Maintenance and Upgrades 

Keeping detections current, content tested and pipelines healthy is a permanent overhead. NCSC guidance recommends continuous improvement across threat intelligence, content engineering and IR drills rather than one-off builds [Source: NCSC Building a SOC collection, 2024]. “Best of suite” platforms identify incidents 72 days faster and contain 84 days faster than a patchwork toolset [IBM - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025]. 

Why Microsoft + CyberOne:  

Our Microsoft-first Assure365 Managed Services follow this pattern with continuous optimisation and a set review cadence to hold gains and control spend. We run monthly reviews, update hunt content, perform pipeline health checks and regression test analytics so detections stay current and costs stay controlled. We track Microsoft feature releases, enable what adds value, retire overlap and adjust commitment tiers to avoid waste, with SLA-backed outcomes from our SOC. 

What This Means for Your Business 

People and data drive SOC cost. Salaries keep rising while log volumes and use cases grow faster than budgets. Hiring takes months and burnout risks churn, so gaps stay open and content drifts out of date. 

The fix is consolidation and focus. Standardise on Microsoft Security for a single view across endpoints, identity, email, and the cloud, then let automation do the heavy lifting. Assure 365 MXDR runs, tunes and continuously improves controls from our SOC so you cut cost, speed outcomes and avoid tool sprawl. 

• People and data are the cost drivers: UK SOC salaries for key roles sit around £42k median for SOC analysts, ~£53k for cyber analysts and ~£74.5k for SOC Managers before on-costs [Source: IT Jobs Watch, 2025].   

• Hiring is slow and stressful: Expect 3-6 months to fill and higher attrition risk due to workload [Source: ISACA 2024].   

• Consolidation pays: Independent TEI work shows lower SIEM TCO and higher ROI when consolidating on Microsoft Security [Source: Forrester TEI, 2024]. 

Indicative UK Cost Model - 24x7 In-House SOC 

Worked People Cost: £42,384×8 + £53,000×2 + £75,000 + £74,500 = £594,572 base salaries. Add 30% on-costs for NI, pension and shift premia ≈ £772,944. [Source: IT Jobs Watch, 2025].   

Context: The UK average cost of a breach hit £3.58m in 2024, making a strong case for faster detection and response [Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025]. 

In-house SOC vs with Microsoft + CyberOne 

Quick Scenarios 

• Before: 3 analysts covered business hours only. Night incidents go unseen. Mean time to respond runs into days. 
  After: 24x7 coverage on Sentinel + Defender XDR. Automation contains endpoint outbreaks within minutes, with forensic hand-off to IR. 
  [Source: Forrester TEI, 2024]. 

• Before: Separate SIEM, EDR, email gateways and identity tools with four vendors. 
  After: Microsoft Security consolidation and log routing to Sentinel, including Microsoft data sources such as M365 and Azure activity logs, cutting ingestion spend. 
  [Source: Forrester TEI, 2024]. 

Objections & Crisp Responses 

• “We want full control.” You keep control. We operate your Microsoft stack to measurable SLAs with full transparency and shared runbooks. 
• “We already have licences.” Great. We maximise what you already own in Microsoft 365 E5, including Sentinel benefits and Defender coverage to reduce third-party spend [Forrester TEI]. 
• “We can hire cheaper.” ISACA shows 3-6 months to fill roles, with high stress and attrition risk. Attrition destroys continuity and increases cost.   
• “Our volumes are small.” Volumes grow. TEI data shows tripling to 1,500 GB/day over three years is common. Architect for scale from day one.
• "We’ll build a basic SOC first,” NCSC warns against checklist builds. Define a target operating model and proportionate services or you pay twice.