Before you roll out Copilot, fix your oversharing

There's a line we use in almost every readiness conversation: Copilot doesn't create new access. It makes existing access easy to find.

For years, oversharing in SharePoint and OneDrive was hidden by obscurity. The file shared with the whole company in 2019 was technically open, but nobody would ever stumble on it. With AI-powered search and Copilot, anyone can find it by asking a simple question.

A practical readiness checklist

1. Find the broad shares. Identify sites, libraries and files shared with "Everyone", "Everyone except external users" or large groups, and sharing links set to "anyone in the organisation".
2. Prioritise sensitive locations. Start with HR, finance, legal, executive and board content. These are where an exposure hurts most.
3. Fix ownership. Every site needs an accountable owner who reviews access regularly. Ownerless sites are where oversharing lives.
4. Label what matters. Apply sensitivity labels to your most sensitive content so protections travel with the file.
5. Restrict where needed. Use the controls Microsoft 365 provides to limit which sites Copilot and search can draw on while you clean up.
6. Set a policy for new content. Sensible default sharing settings stop the problem from coming back.

Don't let perfect block progress

You don't need a perfectly governed tenant before anyone touches Copilot. Start with the high-risk areas, pilot with a group whose content you understand, and expand as you clean up. Readiness and adoption can run in parallel.

Where we help

Our AI Risk Audit includes a Microsoft 365 data exposure review that finds your oversharing hotspots. Our AI Adoption programs build the fixes into your rollout plan.