The rapid rise of Teams adoption isn’t explained solely by the pandemic – for many years, firms have been working more collaboratively and informally, whilst spending an increasing amount of time searching for information. Teams is seen as an easy win for collaboration and a remedy for disconnected information silos and is now the center piece of Microsoft 365.
Alongside online meetings and private chat, Teams serves as a front door for Microsoft 365 apps and provides a baked-in file repository via SharePoint Online. For those firms who have invested in a dedicated Document Management System (DMS) as the system of record, having a separate SharePoint repository front and center of the firm’s primary communication tool is problematic.
Many Teams best practice guides argue for a 'free and easy' usage policy advocating selfgovernance of Teams, in order to drive up adoption. For lawyers, this approach is a road to disaster. Left ungoverned, a rapid adoption of Teams can leave documents and chat data saved randomly in personal OneDrive, mailboxes, and SharePoint sites. Worse, there are no real guarantees that this data is secured properly, nor has the right retention and sensitivity labels applied.
Legal professionals need absolute assurance that data is secured in line with firm policy and client terms, and that every detail of the matter is available many years after the fact. A rapidly deployed, accept-the-defaults Teams setup will run a steam train through many firms’ information governance policies, particularly those who have invested in a DMS.
The challenge is to make the DMS and Teams work together in harmony, providing the collaboration power of Teams and the legal specific storage and retrieval provided by the DMS. To get this right, a careful blend of configuration, tooling, defined ways of working and change management is needed.
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