Microsoft will soon launch a new system that will help companies identify inappropriate messages sent by employees through its productivity and cooperation software.
As noted in a new entry in the company's product roadmap, the Microsoft 365 compliance center is getting an update that will significantly reduce the time it takes to identify violations of the company's communication policies.
"This feature will reduce detection and investigation time to less than an hour, allowing your organization to quickly respond to communications compliance alarms," Microsoft explained.
The Microsoft 365 update is currently in development, but is expected to be released for the first time in April, already before a full launch in the fall.
Employee monitoring with Microsoft 365
Unbeknownst to some, many companies continually monitor how employees interact with each other through email and communications software.
Part of the justification for this practice, seen by some as an inadmissible invasion of privacy, is that cybercriminals tend to attack employees on this type of platform, which can also be used by malicious people to leak data.
Another factor is the potential for business software to be used to scare or otherwise harass co-workers, in violation of an organization's official communications policy.
As explained in a Microsoft 365 weblog post, the communications compliance feature tracks messages sent and received through email, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and third-party platforms. When a message has been identified that violates predefined policies, it is delivered to a designated team of reviewers.
After the Microsoft 365 update goes live later this year, the time from initial detection to investigation will be reduced from around twenty-four hours to less than an hour. As part of the change, Microsoft Teams users will also be prompted to manually report "inappropriate or alarming messages" in chats and channels, as shown in a separate roadmap entry.
While companies will indeed benefit from the upgrade, it's unclear precisely how Microsoft will manage to reduce research time by such a significant margin. LaComparacion Pro is awaiting a response to a request for clarification.