Session Abstract

Sprawl shows up everywhere: too many teams and sites, duplicated content, over-permissioned access, drifting configurations, and a growing long tail of apps and customizations. In the AI era, that chaos becomes an ever increasing risk to productivity, security, and cost. Join Richard Harbridge, Microsoft MVP, as he shares a practical operating model of Find → Fix → Prevent to bring Microsoft 365 under control across collaboration, content, security, configuration, and extensibility. Who should attend Microsoft 365 admins, security/compliance teams, and platform owners responsible for governance, management, security, and experience. Key takeaways • A practical catalog of Microsoft 365 sprawl types, why they matter and how to detect them early. • Patterns that accelerate remediation and resolution (across services, sites, teams, and more). • How to monitor, measure, and adapt governance as Microsoft 365 evolves. • Useful Microsoft 365 governance planning guides and checklists

Note to event organizers

While we often have sessions that go into Purview, security posture improvements and more the sprawl discussion often isn't tackled holistically - yet there are ways to do it well across Microsoft 365, Copilot, Power Platform and more. This session dives into that with practical recommendations, guidance and tactical take away tools.

Richard Harbridge

Richard Harbridge is a Principal Industry Advisor on Microsoft 365 and ShareGate as well as a long-standing Microsoft MVP. Renowned for simplifying the complex, Richard equips IT, executives, and business leaders with three essentials: clarity about Microsoft 365’s evolving capabilities, confidence in responsibly implementing and governing new technologies, and the connections that amplify success across partners, customer communities and Microsoft itself. Over the past decades he has: • Advised 200+ enterprises on Microsoft 365 strategy, AI governance and employee experience. • Delivered 450 + keynotes, workshops and conference sessions across five continents. • Empowered millions of employees with simpler, more secure Microsoft 365 experiences, while helping partners unlock $300+ million in new revenue. • Leads CIO think tanks and employee-experience forums while serving on research and community leadership councils shaping the future of work. Whether architecting AI rollouts, moderating executive roundtables, or writing practical frameworks, Richard’s focus is unwavering: turn technology potential into lasting business impact.