{"id":7159,"date":"2021-08-31T09:06:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T16:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=7159"},"modified":"2025-09-29T13:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:54:13","slug":"transforming-change-management-at-microsoft-with-microsoft-365","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/transforming-change-management-at-microsoft-with-microsoft-365\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming change management at Microsoft with Microsoft 365"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MicrosoftWe periodically update our stories, but we can\u2019t verify that they represent the full picture of our current situation at Microsoft. We leave them on the site so you can see what our thinking and experience was at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Microsoft 365 became a service, the way IT managers needed to think about change management had to undergo a change, and dramatically so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were no exception,\u201d says David Johnson, principal product manager architect, who leads the team that governs how Microsoft 365 is deployed across Microsoft. \u201cMicrosoft 365 started changing every day, and we in IT needed to figure out how to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transition to living in this new Software as a Service (SaaS) world was further complicated by the global pandemic and ever-evolving work-style changes. The ongoing pandemic and its uncertain duration meant that organizations had to remain agile and responsive to the shifting needs of their workforce.<\/p>\n

IT teams had to continuously evaluate and implement new technologies and cloud-based solutions to facilitate remote collaboration, enable seamless communication, and maintain productivity. As a result of remote work, employees embraced asynchronous workflows, allowing for flexibility around when and where work could be completed.<\/p>\n

Now, with the help of generative AI, employees can utilize products like Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams Meeting Recap to reduce meeting fatigue and prioritize workloads.<\/p>\n

{Read how AI has transformed the employee experience at Microsoft.<\/a>}<\/em><\/p>\n

A different world<\/h2>\n

In this new world of remote and flexible work, the pressure on IT administrators at Microsoft (and everywhere else) has increased tremendously.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hot topic for customers\u2014how do I decide what I\u2019m going to turn on for my company effectively? From an industry perspective, this is a fairly important conversation.<\/p>\n

\u2014David Johnson, principal product manager architect, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Johnson
David Johnson is guiding Microsoft\u2019s change management approach to deploying Microsoft 365 products internally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis was a lot to absorb for an industry that had previously thrived on consistency, reliability, and predictability,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n

Change became the new constant, and dealing with that level of change is something everyone is still getting used to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hot topic for customers,\u201d says Johnson, whose team has been at the forefront of both the industry shift to the cloud and the tech demands of a newly flexible workforce. \u201cHow do I decide what I\u2019m going to turn on for my company effectively? From an industry perspective, this is a fairly important conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft Teams alone has hundreds of new features and changes in development at any given time. The rest of the Microsoft 365 suite\u2014which includes Microsoft Office apps, hosted email, and the Microsoft SharePoint glue connecting it all\u2014has also seen rapid changes.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s goal was to handle the change management for all Microsoft 365 products in the same way. His team\u2019s approach falls along getting three things right: initial triage, putting guardrails in place to allow innovation, and staying current on the latest news.<\/p>\n

Triage for an upcoming change<\/h2>\n

IT administrators largely control what changes become available to employees, who in the workforce can see those experiences, and how to configure for them. Sometimes updates are relatively easy to deploy, such as adding the ability to raise a virtual hand in a Microsoft Teams meeting. Other times, they might involve trickier issues such as artificial intelligence or data mining\u2014and then the concept of triage becomes paramount.<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, Microsoft\u2019s internal triage involves two basic concepts: developing a posture\u2014a set of IT principles for your company\u2014and ensuring that features or change management fit within that posture. A posture could define the levels of security and data privacy needed, for example Microsoft 365’s compliance capabilities, such as data loss prevention (DLP), information protection, and eDiscovery, allowed major financial institutions to align their IT environment with their defined compliance posture. They implemented robust data protection measures, including encryption and access management, to safeguard sensitive financial information. Additionally, they used advanced threat protection features to detect and respond to potential security incidents proactively.<\/p>\n

When that posture is in place, triaging against it becomes easier. The first step is to evaluate what\u2019s coming and determine how significant the change is, then run the change through a series of questions that reflect a company\u2019s IT posture, such as these:<\/p>\n