It’s no secret that winning organizations often find new and innovative ways to not only manage the information they’re creating on a daily basis, but to track it as well. This is true both in terms of the tools you’re using like Microsoft Teams or Outlook, and where that information is saved (like with SharePoint, Salesforce or even network folders). How can users take advantage of the communication and collaboration and still find Microsoft Teams information governance success?
Information governance was named by 42% of respondents as one of the top 3 processes for a digital transformation initiative, according to the Association of Intelligent Information Management. However, if a tool like Microsoft Teams is implemented haphazardly, it may not be aligned with corporate information governance practices. If you want to unlock a bold new era of Microsoft Teams information governance success and finally empower the collaboration and communication that happens within those essential documents, there are a number of keys that you’ll want to keep in mind.
Simplifying and Centralizing Microsoft Teams Information Governance, One Step at a Time
One of the major governance issues that a lot of organizations run into often has to do with the fact that they’re managing documents in a siloed manner. They may have control over data within the context of a single department, but that is quickly lost as information moves freely from one area of the business to the next.
An intelligent information management platform like M-Files, on the other hand, is a great way to eliminate this issue. It eliminates the need to micromanage governance within individual applications like Teams, thus creating an overarching information governance program that works anywhere, at any time.
Taming That Information Sprawl
Another major governance problem that businesses often face has to do with information sprawl — meaning that your data is stored in so many different repositories which aren’t connected that keeping track of it all can quickly become an uphill battle.
This is another area where a solution like M-Files can come in handy. M-Files uses a metadata-driven approach to create a frictionless experience for employees — thus, allowing you to finally manage information based on what is in a document rather than where it is stored. Employees no longer need to spend time figuring out where a document they need might be saved. Now, all they need to know is what type of document it actually is — freeing up more of their valuable time to focus on those tasks that truly need them.
Saying “Goodbye” to Document Duplication
Document duplication is more than just a mild inconvenience. It’s also a direct contributor to errors, missed opportunities and more — all during a period where your organization likely cannot afford them.
Therefore, another one of the keys to Microsoft Teams governance success involves taking any step that you can to eliminate this issue once and for all. The right intelligent information management platform can help you do this in an instant and effective way by tracking version history in a way that provides just a single source of truth for information.
Different departments can access the same up-to-date version of a document directly from Teams, regardless of where it is stored and by whom it was created. With just a single master document that users can reference, all employees are finally in a position to be as productive as possible with fewer human errors and messy batches of duplicate versions.
One Centralized Document Lifecycle
But overall, maybe the biggest key to Microsoft Teams governance success involves creating an easily managed, centralized document lifecycle as soon as you’re able to do so. Unfortunately, this is not something that Teams is capable of doing on its own — but M-Files exists to fill in this gap in the most robust way possible.
Once M-Files is in play, workflows can move documents along their lifecycle even after a Teams channel is deleted or archived. This means that not only do statuses change automatically, but the appropriate people are notified as well.
But more than that, documents can actually be assigned to workflows in a way that enables better lifecycle management for different types of documents. One workflow can be totally devoted to contracts, for example, with another being given to more general customer information.
But the best part of all is that there would no longer be a need for manual processing of documents within Teams. Governing information becomes not only instant, but effortless — all so that appropriate lifecycle management can be enforced WITHOUT impacting the day-to-day work of your employees.
In the end, understand that the running theme throughout all of this is that for superior Microsoft Teams governance success, you need to break down the walls between channels as effectively as you can. This doesn’t just create a situation where it’s easier than ever to keep track of the critical data your business is creating every day. It also puts a system in place that empowers your future growth as well.
If you’d like to find out more information about the critical keys to success in terms of Microsoft Teams information governance, or if you just have additional questions that you’d like to go over with someone in a bit more detail, please reach out for a demo tailored to your organization.
