Mastering SharePoint archiving: Simplifying data management with Preserve365

Managing the ever-expanding volume of data, particularly in Microsoft 365 environments like SharePoint, can pose a challenge for organizations. With the growth of both legacy and born-digital information, the need for SharePoint archiving to effectively manage and protect long-term records has become apparent.

The compliance risk associated with data continues to rise as volume increases. Ensuring the integrity and accessibility of business-critical information in platforms like Microsoft SharePoint is crucial for regulatory compliance and overall operational efficiency.

We are living in an "AI everywhere" era, where data availability is fundamental for the success of AI projects to succeed. This is especially important to SharePoint archiving as the data stored in SharePoint must be readily available and accessible for AI systems to analyze and derive insights from.

As the volume, velocity and variety of electronic records within Microsoft 365 continue to surge, relying solely on manual processes for data management is no longer viable. Embracing automated approaches to SharePoint archiving streamlines data management and compliance tasks, alleviating the burden on organizations. By automating these processes, organizations can effectively safeguard their records while empowering users to fully leverage the value of their data assets.

Understanding SharePoint Archiving

SharePoint archiving is a critical aspect of data management within the Microsoft 365 environment. This type of archive is designed to address the challenges of preserving long-term records, while also ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

In essence, it involves the systematic storage and management of historical data, guaranteeing its continued availability over time.

Why SharePoint Archiving is Important

The urgency to prioritize SharePoint archiving stems from the escalating volume of Microsoft 365 records. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the obsolescence of file formats, such as outdated document types or proprietary formats, can create compliance challenges because these files may become unusable by modern software.

Failure to effectively archive long-term records can result in severe consequences, including loss, damage or unreadability of critical information when needed to meet compliance regulations such as the Freedom of Information Act and other legal retention requirements.

SharePoint Archiving or SharePoint Preservation?

SharePoint archiving is more than just storing data; it should be seen as SharePoint preservation because it involves preserving and safeguarding information for the long term.

While archiving implies merely retaining information for historical purposes, preservation goes beyond that, ensuring the long-term usability, accessibility and integrity of records.

Viewing it as preservation requires comprehensive solutions that cover not just storing and retrieving data, but also managing, protecting and ensuring the sustainability of valuable information assets in SharePoint environments.

It’s the preservation of SharePoint records that incorporates a more holistic approach needed to safeguard data, ensure regulatory compliance and unlock the full potential of organizational knowledge and insights stored within SharePoint repositories.

Why Consolidation Matters

When implementing SharePoint archiving, it's crucial to seamlessly integrate a comprehensive solution that covers governance, archiving, digital preservation and access automation at scale.

Using separate archiving tools can lead to fragmented processes and increased complexity. That's why there's a growing demand for unified solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing Microsoft 365 workflows.

It's essential to focus not only on managing existing and legacy digital records spanning decades but also on the present and future. Simply applying an archival strategy isn't sufficient; a preservation strategy is necessary. This strategy ensures a coherent and reliable approach to archival and long-term records management, automatically maintaining their integrity regardless of file format. It also provides tamper-evident assurance and ensures easy retrieval and usability when needed to mitigate compliance risks.

Preserve365 for SharePoint Archiving

With Preserve365®, achieving consistent and compliant records management through automation has never been easier. Our solution directly confronts these challenges by enabling organizations to integrate archiving and digital preservation directly into the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft SharePoint environments.

Utilizing Preservica’s Active Digital Preservation™ technology, you gain the ability to combat file format obsolescence, while maintaining tamper-evident integrity. This guarantees the perpetual availability and usability of your critical records and archival assets within SharePoint, regardless of format. It also can revive old documents stored in SharePoint, even if they're not in a Microsoft file format. These functionalities eliminate the need for separate vendor-specific archiving and discovery tools because the features are seamlessly integrated directly into the Microsoft ecosystem.

Moreover, it enables Microsoft customers to get the most out of their investments in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft SharePoint by helping them manage permissions, labels, automation and discovery tools more effectively.

By consolidating investments in Microsoft 365, organizations can implement a unified information governance strategy across the entire records lifecycle, empowering them to minimize compliance risk by ensuring critical long-term records can always be accessed, instantly read and actioned for generations to come.

For more information on SharePoint archiving:

• Learn more about Preserve365

• Watch our Preserve365 launch webinar

• Trial and purchase Preserve365 in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace