EY Microsoft 365 Services has charged organisations on effective collaborations on delivering improved services to their clients, especially, in a world that is fast tilting into a knowledge-based economy.
The assistant director, Technical Lead of EY Microsoft 365 Services, Usman Abubakar Ehimeakhe, in a statement made available to NATIONAL ECONOMY, said building a better working world rests on effective and efficient teamwork.
“We need strong security, but we also need great collaboration. Collaboration is a multifaceted process that requires exquisite attention to protecting not only internal EY data, but that of its clients, partners, and other external parties. The EY organisation relies on trust among its stakeholders, so we must protect our data with the highest possible degree of integrity. That is one of the reasons why we use Microsoft solutions,” he stressed.
The organisation, he said carefully protects that trust, which is why it focuses on making collaboration as secure as possible.
While sharing his thoughts on how to safeguard collaboration, he mentioned three goals to safeguarding collaborations, which are; to block oversharing of data, prevent sharing sensitive personal data, and control exfiltration.
“Those goals seemed to clash with EY professionals’ need to collaborate with non-EY team members and desire to invite guests to use relevant applications and data with as close to the same streamlined workflow that professionals use with internal colleagues.
“EY professionals had begun using Microsoft 365 Groups, a feature that spans the Microsoft 365 applications for easy workgroup coordination, to collaborate with non-EY parties,” he added.
Finding a balance is an ongoing test for his team, he pointed out that the challenge goes beyond the many people who need access to EY assets, but warned that, constantly growing threat landscape demands constant vigilance and strict security measures.
“Yet tens of thousands of clients and other external players require access for varying terms, creating a constantly shifting population whose access must be carefully orchestrated for the right assets at the right time,” he added.
The assistant director said the organisation did not need to buy additional data privacy management software from another vendor because the answer—Microsoft Purview Information Protection was already available in its Microsoft 365 E5 license.
He said when the COVID-19 pandemic struck early in the information protection rollout, EY teams worked with Microsoft to fast-track the rollout and safeguard online collaboration for the company’s professionals across the globe within days.
