Smarter Retention in Microsoft 365: A Step Toward Cleaner, More Relevant Data - Coming soon

Anyone who has worked with SharePoint management knows that data governance is a cornerstone of digital productivity, especially in large organizations where information can accumulate rapidly. Today, retention policies in Microsoft 365 allow administrators to manage data based on creation or modification dates. However, in my experience, this approach is not always sufficient. Files that haven’t been accessed in years may still linger in OneDrive or SharePoint, cluttering storage, slowing down search, and diluting the relevance of AI-powered tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot. A new feature in Microsoft Purview Retention Policies, expected this winter, promises to enhance Data Lifecycle Management. This upcoming setting will enable policies to identify files that have remained untouched for a specified period and automatically flag them for deletion or archival. This enhancement is particularly valuable for organizations leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot. By removing outdated or irreleva...

Microsoft facilitator

Microsoft has been talking about agents for some time, and in the end of 2024 they made some updates to what we called "Copilot in teams meetings" by releasing the application (or agent) called Facilitator. The Facilitator requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in addition to a Teams license. 

So what is new, or what is the difference between "Copilot in teams meetings" and the new Facilitator? They both require transcription turned on, and they both create great summaries. But the Facilitator takes the feature to the next level by generating real-time AI notes and suggesting tasks on the fly in the meeting, as opposed to the previous experience of post meeting summaries. Not only does the Facilitator work in meetings, the app can be added to chats and group-chats as well, making it really easy to stay up to date in any conversation.

The Facilitator was rolled out in the November - December 2024 timeframe and has been implemented as an app organizations can control access to. It can be controlled through policies in the Teams Admin Center (Default policies will allow all apps).

The App is available on Desktop and mobile, but mobile users can at the moment only view AI-content, not enable them by starting the app.