Where Collaboration Meets Compliance: Microsoft Teams with M-Files

Microsoft Teams is a great tool for collaborating within an organization, but it often lends itself to document management and compliance issues. Enter M-Files: an intelligent information management solution that seamlessly integrates with your company’s systems, including Microsoft Teams.

In early 2017, Microsoft formally launched Microsoft Teams as part of an effort to compete with majority market share holder, Slack. Over the years, the platform has gained its own following given its seamless integration with Office 365 at no added cost.

In 2020, the world found itself in a global crisis due to the pandemic and the need for virtual collaboration exploded. Microsoft, nor anyone really, expected that to happen, however, they were in prime position to take advantage and deliver value to fill that need.

In just over a year from April 2020, the average for Daily Active Users skyrocketed from 75 million to 145 million! This begs the question, why Microsoft Teams?

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Microsoft Teams with M-Files
Chart courtesy of Statista

What’s Behind the Success?

The key reason is its backbone and integration amongst the various Microsoft platforms and tools that have already been significant disruptors in their areas. Below is a summarized diagram that highlights just how clever this implementation is and what makes Microsoft Teams effective.

Here are just a few of the key benefits that organizations are seeing with Microsoft Teams:

  • A unified experience for collaboration and communication through built-in capabilities for chat and working on documents through Office products

  • Increased connectivity and user adoption with clients for desktop, mobile, and web

  • Reduced load on day-to-day activities to receive, share, and create information

  • Extend security policies and capabilities through Azure Active Directory

  • Increased coverage for information with tab integrations to hundreds of platforms

  • Reduce reliance on emails that are now replaced with quick messages via chat or notifications

Microsoft Teams with M-Files

How M-Files Fits In

With the various benefits organizations gain in terms of collaboration and communication, there are still several issues that are created from implementing Microsoft Teams.

  • Information Sprawl – Duplicates/versions can be stored across any Team or Channel

  • Insecure Connections – Limited visibility and control of information with third party integrations

  • Compliance Risk – Limited access control features which increase risk of not being compliant

  • Unmanaged Processes – Users are unchecked when they deviate from best practices

Adding M-Files into the fold allows organizations to have the best of both worlds. Bringing collaboration and compliance together to the new era of the digital enterprise.

Microsoft Teams with M-Files
Chart courtesy of M-Files

The following M-Files capabilities fill in the gaps that Microsoft Teams cannot address:

Microsoft Teams with M-Files
Microsoft Teams with M-Files
Microsoft Teams with M-Files

A Closer Look at Microsoft Teams with M-Files

Microsoft Teams with M-Files

  • Serve up specific content for a specific Team and Channel through the tab integration

  • Find documents based on context and relationships via metadata, not location

  • Add meaning to documents and artifacts from many different sources

  • Extend visibility of information through built-in Teams integrations and M-Files connectors via IML

  • Ensure deeply customizable access controls via metadata permissions in M-Files and Azure AD policies

  • Ensure compliance while maintaining a single source of truth through M-Files workflows and versioning

Learn more about seamlessly integrating M-Files with Microsoft Teams and many other applications offered within a Microsoft 365 subscription.

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