It’s a pivotal moment in the evolution of how knowledge workers collaborate in the digital space. Accelerated by the explosion of remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft Teams has become the de-facto place where many organizations collaborate and share files. But what makes Teams such a great platform for these activities is also a huge headache for IT, risk management, and regulatory compliance leaders.

Microsoft Teams is easy for end users and supports dynamic, flexible workflows that let them focus on their jobs rather than the supporting technology. But this laissez-faire approach makes governance significantly harder, particularly as IT tries to play catch up and rein things in a bit after a few years of “anything goes” attitudes.

This leaves everyone asking the same question: Can governance co-exist with business productivity in Microsoft Teams?

During our webinar on July webinar, we dived deep into this topic during our conversation with Benjamin Niaulin, VP Product of ShareGate.

The inherent tension between IT and end users

While these cohorts ultimately share the same high-level goals and objectives at the organizational level, on a day-to-day basis they may feel at odds. IT has the mandate to create and enforce policies that protect and secures data along with meeting any specific compliance requirements. Meanwhile, end users just want to get things done with as little hassle as possible, primarily focusing on accomplishing short-term tasks.

However, IT isn’t just focused on security and standardization for its own sake. They also want to make end users more productive while simultaneously preparing for automation and streamlining processes. How can IT deliver solutions that align with these objectives and get reluctant end users to shift their behaviors and adopt new best practices?

Making metadata manageable

Everyone loves having metadata, but no one enjoys adding it. Metadata improves discoverability, categorization, automation, and records management, but asking end users to add a bunch of tags every time they upload or share a file rarely results in significant levels of compliance.

Making metadata mandatory can swing the pendulum too far in the opposite direction, for if it becomes too burdensome end users will simply work outside the system to avoid the hassle, creating shadow IT nightmares down the line. How can IT split the difference, ensuring enough metadata gets consistently collected without causing an end-user revolt?

Join the conversation

If these or related topics weigh heavily on your mind, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone!