Microsoft 365 is the best-in-class enterprise communication and collaboration solution, allowing your organization to become highly productive within and outside of the organization. In brief, Microsoft 365 is compromised of various products and workloads, from utilizing Exchange for email and Microsoft Teams for instant messaging and telephony to SharePoint Online for developing your intranet and Yammer for inter-organizational social interaction. So, now that your organization utilizes Microsoft 365, the best-in-class enterprise communication and collaboration solution, what is your next step?

The Challenge

Microsoft 365 provides extensive usage of available products like Exchange, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and Power Apps. Your organization may want to give the best solution and user experience to the end-user community, becoming productive and competitive in your respective industry. However, as your organization continues to adopt and incorporate change by providing the available features in Microsoft 365, the end-user community will begin utilizing these features as soon as possible.

So, what’s going to happen now? For example, I give my child a brand-new toy or video game, and they are ecstatic. However, after a few days, once my child is done playing with the toy or video game, they toss it in a nearby spot and completely forget about it. However, as a parent, I teach my child to put the new toy or video game in a specific location each time they are done, properly dispose if the child doesn’t want the toy or video game, or write their name on it, in case they lose it. Overall, there is an essential factor that organizations tend to forget or lack before communicating new features and products available in Microsoft 365: governance.

The Solution

In brief, Microsoft 365 governance revolves around planning the protection of your assets, ensuring proper asset lifecycle management, and minimizing risk to your organization, in the case of data leakage, improper role and permission assignment, and ownerless content. Examples of Microsoft 365 governance controls are access reviews for certain assets, such as Microsoft 365 groups, teams, or SharePoint communication sites. Another example is leveraging Microsoft Information Protection and assigning sensitivity labels to Microsoft 365 groups for protection and classification. Another example is leveraging Azure AD PIM (Privileged Identity Management) for permanent or temporary role assignments and just-in-time access for specific tasks or objectives. A final example is establishing required controls and permissions for Azure AD app registration and consent.

The Objective

As you continue to adopt Microsoft 365 in your organization, begin planning and establishing a Microsoft 365 governance framework for all workloads utilized, such as Exchange, Microsoft Teams, Azure AD, Yammer, SharePoint, and more. As you establish the Microsoft 365 governance framework, collaborate with key members from adoption & change management, business stakeholders, and inter-organizational Microsoft 365 champions, ensure the overall end-user community is aware of the governance controls set for Microsoft 365. Also, keep in mind, your Microsoft 365 governance framework is a living, ever-evolving concept. Therefore, as you continue to utilize Microsoft 365 in your organization, keep your governance framework up-to-date and inform the same key members and stakeholders.

Quick Links

• Azure Active Directory – Access reviews
• Microsoft 365 groups and sensitivity labels
• Configure end-users consent to applications