Managing Compliance in Office 365

The Office 365 platform supports customers around the world with many different standards and regulations guiding the handling of information assets. Microsoft is constantly adding to the list of compliance and security standards supported. Office 365 offers both built-in capabilities and customer controls to help customers meet compliance standards.

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): DLP is a strategy and tools offered to help admins control the flow of sensitive or critical information outside of the corporate network. Admins can configure policies based on their organization’s compliance needs to help reduce the chance of financial, personal identifiable information (PII), and other key intellectual property data from leaking. Notifications are placed in users’ inboxes to alert them to risk prior to hitting send. These notifications can serve as a tool to make employees more informed about corporate compliance policies and best practices.
• eDiscovery Center: Electronic Discovery, is used to search, locate, and retrieve records for legal matters. eDiscovery is a great tool when searching across various platforms. (However, don’t forget that Office 365 Litigation Hold IS NOT an alternative to backup.) Users can search content across Sharepoint Online sites, Exchange online mailboxes, and OneDrive for Business individually or all at once. So, any content stored in your environment is discoverable, and you can organize it in one easy setting.
• Continuous Compliance Services: With over 1,000 controls in place, Microsoft is running real-time reviews of its own data-handling policies and procedures to ensure that evolving customer and industry standards are being met. This helps users stay compliant. Each time a user is added, customer agreements detail the privacy, security, and data handling necessary to comply with the most up-to-date standards.

Whether or not you are aware of it, your organization is likely functioning in adherence to certain compliance standards. It is good to stay informed and know all that Microsoft Office 365 offers, because it may be just the right fit for your company.