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Written by:

Bo van der Linden, May 12, 2025

Bo van der Linden

Bo van de Linden

M365 Business Consultant

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Five uses of archiving, retention and retention periods in Microsoft 365

Does your organization struggle to keep documents organized and in order? Do you find it difficult to quickly find the right information in SharePoint, Teams or OneDrive? And do you also have to deal with laws and regulations such as the AVG, Archive Act or NIS2?

Then it’s high time to get a grip on your digital information. The correct archive, preserve and apply retention periods is essential for any organization that wants to meet increasingly stringent governance and compliance requirements while at the same time helping employees work more productively. In this blog, we share five recognizable challenges and show you how Microsoft 365 can support you in this process.

Archiving and preservation challenges

Many organizations face the same challenges when it comes to preserving and archiving data within Microsoft 365. All the while, this is an essential part of your governance and compliance policies. Common challenges include:

  • Organizations must comply with laws and regulations, such as the Archives Act, AVG, NIS2 or ISO27001.
  • Organizations deal with large amounts of outdated or irrelevant data, making it difficult for employees to quickly find the right information.
  • Organizations want to reduce storage costs, but often store more data than necessary.
  • Organizations spend a lot of time reviewing data to determine what may be archived or deleted.
  • Organizations want to use AI solutions like Copilot without the risk of sensitive or irrelevant information becoming accessible.

What does the Microsoft 365 platform offer?

Fortunately, Microsoft 365 offers plenty of functionalities to address these challenges. Tools such as Microsoft 365 Archive and Microsoft Purview offer advanced capabilities for archiving data and setting retention periods and classifyingclassification of data. In this way, responsibility no longer lies with individual employees, and you can be sure that data is kept for as long as necessary, and then automatically deleted or archived.

How can you apply this?

There are plenty of examples of how your organization can take advantage of the capabilities within Microsoft 365. Here are some common applications:

  • Automatic deletion of personal data after a specific period of time in accordance with the AVG.
  • Delete team chats one month after they are sent.
  • Automatically delete emails after seven years to prevent mailboxes from filling up.
  • Archive SharePoint sites and Teams so they are no longer visible, but can be easily reactivated if needed.
  • Retain contract documents as records for 5 years from contract end date. Request a disposal review to delete these documents.
  • Automatically delete applicants' data one month after the application process ends.
  • Project sites archive in cold storage five years after the end date of a project.

How does this help your organization?

By using Microsoft 365 Archive and Microsoft Purview, you can automatically archive, classify and delete data. This ensures a cleaner and more manageable tenant, lower storage costs and higher retrievability of relevant information for users. In addition, with a good archiving policy, you reduce the risk of data leaks: what is no longer present can no longer be viewed, leaked or stolen.

What can we do in this?

Setting up an effective policy for archiving, retention and retention periods requires good preparation and careful implementation. We are happy to support you in drafting and implementing these policies, give advice on information architecture and help you set up Microsoft Purview. Our experience with legislation and regulations such as the Archive Act, AVG, NIS2 and ISO27001 enables us to provide optimal support, with an approach that suits your organization and meets all requirements.

In short: a solid policy for archiving, retention and retention periods is indispensable for any organization that wants to comply with laws and regulations as well as improve employee productivity.

Are you curious about how your organization is currently doing in terms of governance and compliance? Schedule a scan and get immediate insight. We map essential areas such as archiving processes, retention periods and document classification, identify risks and areas for improvement, and give you practical tools to quickly and smartly put governance and compliance in order.