What should we fix before deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Before deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot, organizations should fix the security, access, and data governance issues that Copilot may make easier to find. Copilot does not create access to data by itself, but it can surface information that a user already has permission to view. That means old permissions, overshared files, inactive Teams, and weak identity controls can become much more visible once Copilot is enabled. Microsoft’s Copilot guidance also emphasizes reviewing permissions, data security, and governance before rollout.

The first area to fix is identity. Review MFA, Conditional Access, guest users, privileged admin roles, stale accounts, and group memberships. If a user or guest has access they no longer need, clean that up before Copilot is introduced.

The second area is SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams permissions. Many companies have years of open sharing links, abandoned project sites, old Teams channels, and folders shared with large groups. These may not look urgent today, but Copilot can make that information easier to locate.

The third area is sensitive data protection. Use Microsoft Purview capabilities such as sensitivity labels, data loss prevention, retention policies, audit logs, and insider risk controls to reduce accidental exposure. This is especially important for legal, financial, HR, customer, healthcare, and regulated business data.

Organizations should also review external sharing, unmanaged devices, inactive users, and third-party app access. Finally, create a simple AI usage policy so employees understand what data can be used with Copilot, what should not be used, and when human review is required.

In short, before deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot, fix identity gaps, overshared content, weak data classification, unmanaged external access, and unclear AI usage rules. This makes Copilot adoption safer, cleaner, and easier to govern.