Through more than twenty years of implementing Modern Work solutions, we’ve observed that an organisation’s operations become more complex as its business grows. It manages larger volumes of data and interactions with a broader range of stakeholders and customers, making it harder to instil a consistent information management practice. Organisations cannot accurately protect their organisation content, leverage the power of knowledge for maximum results, respond to changes in business requirements quickly, or make educated business decisions unless they can manage their information correctly.

If you’re having the same challenges, we hope your organisation will plan to overcome them this year. In this article, we share the most common information management challenges and how to tackle them so your organisation can increase operational efficiency, better secure critical information, and keep up with evolving compliance requirements in 2025.  

5 Common information management and compliance challenges – and their solutions

Having supported many information managers and compliance officers, we’ve identified five of their most common problems. Read on to learn our recommended solutions to help you achieve and sustain practical ways to manage and protect information.

Information silos.

This tops our list, as this is typically where our clients struggle the most. From paper-based records, on-premises file shares, business applications, emails, legacy enterprise document and records management systems (EDRMS), and personal cloud storage like OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive to digital workspaces like Teams and SharePoint, content is saved everywhere! Not only does this make it more difficult to find and collaborate on content, but it also leads to content duplication, data integrity risk, even data loss, and potential security breach concerns.

Solution: Migrate to a unified platform.

A good way to handle information silos is first to find out where your users store information and compare that with where it’s best for them to store it. You can gradually retire outdated content management systems and consolidate these into a single, secure, scalable platform like Microsoft 365 for one place to file things and one place to govern things.

Ungoverned workspaces.

The proliferation and use of ungoverned personal workspaces like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox have made them the dumping ground of content. Because users want what is easy and familiar, they turn to ad hoc, personal storage platforms to store and quickly access important information. However, overusing these apps inadvertently silos information, resulting in duplication of master documents, compliance risks, and inaccessible data for the rest of the organisation. Announced just recently, beginning January 2025 Microsoft will start charging organisations to store unlicensed OneDrive accounts, which can also lead to unnecessary costs if not monitored and actioned.

Solution: Control OneDrive overuse.

A good way to control OneDrive overuse is to understand what’s stored in OneDrive. You can implement dashboards that provide insights into OneDrive usage so you can see people with “too many files” or those using too much storage compared to the average pattern for the organisation. This way, you can intervene and clean up the OneDrive’s of people who have left or are overusing it.

Use of legacy systems.

File shares, legacy EDRMS, and old mailboxes typically operate in isolation, making it difficult for organisations to manage and protect information effectively. These antiquated data repositories often lack the ability to automate compliance processes such as classifying, labelling, and protecting sensitive data. Because it lacks robust data management, reporting, and auditing capabilities, it makes it more challenging for organisations to meet evolving regulatory requirements. Many legacy systems are no longer actively supported with the latest patches and updates, which puts sensitive information at risk and increases the likelihood of non-compliance incidents.

Solution: Consider your legacy repositories and reduce legacy systems.

Take a look at reducing legacy systems, and what legacy repositories you may have, where they are located, where they are most problematic, and what easy steps you can take to lower your organisation’s risks. By doing this, you can:

• Protect the most critical content in your active or legacy information stores.
• Ensure the right content is in its correct location to make it easier to manage and protect.
• Destroy as much information as you can that you don’t need or don’t have to keep, and ensure there is a systematic program of disposal.

Information security.

Information security is a persistent challenge as organisations manage more data and complex IT environments while balancing security, productivity, and operational needs. Innovative cyber-attacks make it challenging for IT teams to stay ahead of emerging threats. Organisations cannot enforce consistent protection across their data without automated security workflow, sophisticated information protection measures, and compliance protocols.

Solution: Auto-classify metadata, retention, and disposal rules.

Microsoft 365 is a great content management and collaboration platform, but it still lacks the automation to streamline content classification, labelling, and protection steps in a way that is both easy for people and effective for the organisation. That’s where iWorkplace comes in.

iWorkplace is a set of frameworks and tools in Microsoft 365 designed to help you achieve your data protection and compliance requirements at scale in an easier, more cost-effective, and user-friendly way. It allows you to automate data classification using pre-defined rules, protect information from day one, and then dispose of content to a schedule in line with compliance regulations. By automating data classification, retention, and disposal, iWorkplace creates a proactive information protection framework, ensuring your organisation’s sensitive data is protected throughout its lifecycle.

Regulatory compliance.

The Australian government recently implemented changes to the Australian Privacy Act to strengthen the country’s privacy framework and adapt to evolving cyber threats. In summary, the new bill increases civil penalties for serious or repeated breaches to AUD $50 million and introduces potential lawsuits from individuals seeking legal recourse. Organisations must ensure strong data protection measures to prevent breaches and minimise the impact to them financially, legally, reputationally, and operationally.

Solution: Consider a holistic view of security and compliance.

Navigating the Privacy Act can be daunting for any organisation, but a cybersecurity specialist like Professional Advantage can simplify and accelerate your compliance journey. We provide expert guidance, leveraging specialised tools, proven frameworks, and established design patterns to integrate seamlessly with and optimise collaboration platforms like Microsoft 365 for compliance and streamlined user experience. Our approach ensures your content management aligns with industry standards and frameworks, giving your leadership team the clarity and confidence they need to protect your organisation effectively.

This article is a starting point for any organisation looking for practical tips to overcome its information management and compliance challenges. However, developing a strategy tailored to your organisation’s unique business needs requires a strategic approach to identifying and prioritising information management opportunities and leveraging technology solutions that automate document tagging, retention labels, disposal rules, case file management, etc.

Let us help you achieve your data protection and compliance requirements at scale in an easier, more cost-effective, and user-friendly way – all within your familiar Microsoft 365 digital workplace. Contact us to learn how we can help.