Microsoft has announced an update for its Office cloud policy service that should make it easier for businesses to limit the misuse of the productivity software suite.
As explained in a blog post, Microsoft has rolled out a help wizard to guide companies through the sometimes-finicky process of configuring new policies.
The new-look policy management service also offers additional “slicers and filters” to help administrators identify specific policies, which can then be viewed and amended via a flyout menu.
Microsoft Office policies
In an environment in which many employees are now working from their personal laptops, computers and smartphones, the Office cloud policy service is designed to ensure enterprise customers can still enforce their usage policies.
The service lets companies set out a series of policies that take effect on any device that logs into the corporate Microsoft 365 domain. These policies might relate to cybersecurity posture, or the feature set available to users.
For example, a business could choose to require multi-factor authentication when workers log into Microsoft Teams. Separately, an administrator could establish a policy that determines whether or not staff have access to the latest collaboration features in Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
With the latest update for the service, Microsoft is hoping to make the process of building out a watertight portfolio of policies as straightforward as possible, both by providing active guidance and making improvements to the user interface.
The company also says the most recent update is just “one of many planned for this year”, which suggests administrators can look forward to a number of quality of life improvements in the months to come.
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