Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to Simply
SharePoint, the podcast where we
cut through the complexity andgive you practical strategies
for SharePoint success.
I'm Liza Tinker, and today we'rediving into what might be the
most important SharePointconversation of 2025.
Is your organization ready forMicrosoft Copilot?
(00:25):
Now, I know what you'rethinking.
Another AI episode?
Really?
But here's the thing.
While everyone's talking aboutwhat Copilot can do, almost no
one is talking about what youneed to do to make Copilot
actually work in yourenvironment.
And trust me, if you think yourcurrent SharePoint setup is
ready for AI, you're probably infor a rude awakening.
(00:46):
Today, we're going to explorewhy most SharePoint environments
will fail with Copilot.
what you can do about it and howto build information
architecture that doesn't justsurvive the AI revolution, but
thrives in it.
Let's start with a realitycheck.
Microsoft Copilot is rolling outacross organizations right now
(01:10):
and the marketing promises areincredible.
AI that understands yourcontent, surfaces relevant
information, automates workflowsand basically turns your
SharePoint into this intelligentbusiness assistant.
But here's what Microsoft isn'ttelling you in those glossy
demos.
Copilot is only as good as yourinformation architecture.
(01:30):
And if I'm being honest, mostSharePoint environments I see
are nowhere near ready for AI.
Let me paint you a picture.
Imagine you're working on aproject proposal and you ask
Copilot to find similarproposals from the past year.
In a well-structuredenvironment, Copilot instantly
surfaces three relevantproposals with clear metadata
(01:52):
about project types, departmentsand outcomes.
But in real world SharePointenvironments, Copilot returns a
random mix of documents becauseit can't tell the difference
between a project proposal and aproject status report.
Why?
Because they're both just Worddocuments sitting in folders
(02:12):
with names like project stuffand important documents.
I was speaking with anotherconsultant last month who was
working with a client which wasa mid-sized consulting firm, and
they were so excited aboutCopilot.
They'd seen the demos, boughtthe licenses, and expected
immediate productivity gains.
Three weeks later, their ITdirector called them in
(02:33):
frustration.
Copilot keeps giving usirrelevant results, he said.
It's actually making thingsworse.
When they audited theirSharePoint environment, the
problem was obvious.
They had 47 different documentlibraries across 23 sites with
no consistent naming inventions,minimal metadata and folder
(02:53):
structures that went eightlevels deep.
Copilot was trying to make senseof chaos and chaos doesn't make
good AI training data.
So what does AI readyinformation architecture
actually look like?
Let's break this down into thefundamental building blocks that
make Copilot effective.
(03:15):
First, you need rich, consistentmetadata.
Think of metadata as thevocabulary that helps AI
understand your content.
When you upload a document,you're not just storing a file.
You're creating a data pointthat AI can analyze, categorize,
and connect to otherinformation.
But here's where mostorganizations go wrong.
(03:37):
They either have no metadatastrategy, or they have metadata
that's inconsistent acrossdifferent sites and libraries.
I see this all the time.
HR calls their document typefield category, while marketing
calls theirs content type, andlegal uses document
classification.
To humans, these might seemsimilar, but to AI, they're
(04:00):
completely different datapoints.
The solution is developingenterprise-wide metadata schemas
that work across your entireorganization.
This means standardizing notjust the field names, but the
values within those fields.
Instead of having some documentstagged as policy, others as
(04:21):
policies, and still others ascompany policy, you need one
consistent term that everyoneuses.
Second, you need logical contentrelationships.
AI excels when it can understandhow different pieces of content
connect to each other.
This goes beyond just organizingdocuments in folders.
(04:42):
It's about explicitly definingrelationships between projects,
departments, processes, andoutcomes.
For example, instead of justhaving a folder called quarter
four marketing campaign, youwant metadata that connects
campaign documents to specificproducts, target audiences,
(05:03):
budget allocations, andperformance metrics.
This allows Copilot tounderstand not just what the
documents are, but how they fitinto your broader business
context.
Third, you need structuredcontent types.
This is where SharePoint'scontent type functionality
becomes crucial for AIreadiness.
(05:24):
Content types define not justwhat fields a document has, but
what kind of information itcontains and how it should be
processed.
When you create, say, a contenttype for project proposal,
you're telling the system, andby extension, Copilot, that this
document contains specific typesof information, such as project
(05:45):
objectives, timelines, budgets,stakeholders.
This structure enables AI toextract and analyze information
in meaningful ways.
Now, let's address the elephantin the room.
The eternal folders versusmetadata debate.
(06:06):
If you've been in the SharePointworld for more than five
minutes, you've heard thisargument.
Folders are evil.
Use metadata for everything.
Or the opposite.
Users understand folders.
Metadata is too complicated.
Here's the truth that's going tosave you years of implementation
headaches.
It's not either or.
(06:27):
The most successful AI-readySharePoint environments use
hybrid approaches that leveragethe strengths of both folders
and metadata.
Think about it from a userperspective.
When someone needs to find acontract, they might naturally
think it's probably in the legalfolder, under contracts, under
2024.
(06:48):
That's intuitive foldernavigation.
But when Copilot needs toanalyze contract data across
your entire organization, Itneeds metadata like contract
type, parties involved,expiration dates, and renewal
terms.
The hybrid approach gives youboth.
(07:08):
You create a logical folderstructure that matches how
people think about contentorganization, but you also
implement rich metadata thatenables AI analysis and
cross-content connections.
Now, here's a practical examplefrom a client implementation.
Their marketing department hasfolders organized by campaign
(07:30):
type, product launches, brandcampaigns, event marketing.
Within each folder, they usemetadata to tag documents with
specific products, targetaudiences, budget ranges, and
performance metrics.
This means a marketing managercan browse to product launches
and find what they needintuitively.
(07:52):
But Copilot can also analyze allmarketing content across
campaigns to identify successfulstrategies, budget optimization
opportunities, and audienceengagement patterns.
The key is using folders foruser navigation and metadata for
AI intelligence.
(08:12):
Folders provide the browsingexperience that people expect,
while metadata provides thestructured data that makes AI
effective.
But here's the critical part.
your folder structure needs tosupport metadata inheritance.
When someone saves a document inthe, say, the product launches
2024 folder, it shouldautomatically inherit metadata
(08:37):
values for campaign type andproduct.
This reduces the metadata burdenon users while ensuring
consistent data for AI analysis.
Now let's get practical.
How do you actually implementAI-ready information
architecture in the real world?
(08:57):
I want to share threeimplementation strategies that
I've seen work across differenttypes of organizations.
Strategy one, start with yourmost critical business processes
and don't try to fix everythingat once.
Identify the business processeswhere AI could have the biggest
impact and focus yourinformation architecture if it's
(09:20):
there first.
I worked with a small marketingteam that was constantly
recreating the wheel.
Every time they needed to createa new campaign brief, they'd
spend ages looking through oldfolders trying to find a good
example to copy.
They had folders called thingslike 2023 campaigns, old
projects, and marketing stuff.
(09:40):
You know the drill.
Finding anything useful was likesearching for a needle in a
haystack.
So we made one simple change.
we created a campaign briefslibrary with just three pieces
of information for each brief.
The campaign type, like sayproduct launch or brand
awareness, the target audience,like small business or
(10:02):
enterprise, and whether thecampaign was successful or not.
That's it, nothing fancy.
Now, when they're starting a newproduct launch campaign for
small businesses, they just askCopilot, Show me successful
product launch campaigns forsmall businesses.
Instead of digging throughrandom folders for hours, they
(10:23):
get exactly what they need inseconds.
The result, they went fromspending half a day hunting for
examples to having the perfecttemplate in minutes.
And because they're building onwhat actually worked before,
their campaigns will be moresuccessful too.
Strategy two.
Implement metadata inheritanceto reduce user burden.
(10:48):
The biggest barrier to metadataadoption is user resistance.
People don't want to fill outforms every time they save a
document.
The solution is smart defaultsand inheritance patterns.
For example, when someonecreates a document in a project
folder, it automaticallyinherits the project name,
project manager and department.
(11:09):
Users only need to add documentspecific metadata like document
type and status.
This reduces the metadata burdenwhile ensuring consistent data
for AI analysis.
Strategy three, design for bothcurrent needs and future AI
capabilities.
(11:29):
This means thinking beyond justorganizing content for human
consumption You want tostructure information in ways
that enable AI to identifypatterns, make connections, and
provide intelligentrecommendations.
A great example is how oneclient restructured their HR
documentation.
Instead of just organizingpolicies by department, they
(11:53):
added metadata for policy types,compliance requirements,
effective dates, and relatedprocedures.
This enables Copilot to not justfind relevant policies, but also
identify compliance gaps, flagoutdated procedures, and suggest
policy updates based onregulatory changes.
(12:16):
The key insight here is thatAI-ready information
architecture isn't just aboutbetter organization.
It's about creating datarelationships that enable
intelligent analysis andautomated insights.
SPEAKER_00 (12:29):
Before
SPEAKER_01 (12:32):
we wrap up, let's
talk about the common pitfalls I
see organizations fall into whenpreparing for Copilot and how
you can avoid them.
Pitfall number one, assumingyour current SharePoint
structure is good enough for AI.
I can't tell you how many timesI've heard, our SharePoint is
pretty well organized.
Copilot should work fine.
(12:54):
Then they implement Copilot andwonder why the results are
inconsistent or irrelevant.
The solution is conducting anhonest audit of your current
information architecture.
Look at your metadataconsistency, content
organization patterns, and userbehavior.
If humans struggle to findinformation in your current
(13:15):
setup, AI will struggle too.
Pitfall number two,over-engineering metadata
schemas.
Some organizations go to theopposite extreme and create
incredibly complex metadatarequirements that users simply
won't follow.
Remember, metadata is onlyvaluable if it's consistently
(13:36):
applied.
The solution is starting simpleand evolving over time.
Implement core metadata fieldsthat provide immediate value,
then gradually add moresophisticated classification as
users become comfortable withthe process.
Pitfall number three, ignoringchange management.
(13:58):
Technical implementation is onlyhalf the battle.
If users don't understand whyinformation architecture matters
for AI success, they won'tfollow the new processes.
The solution is connectinginformation architecture changes
to business outcomes.
Show people how betterorganization leads to more
effective AI assistance, whichleads to increased productivity
(14:22):
and better business results.
So where do you go from here?
If you're feeling overwhelmed bythe scope of preparing your
SharePoint environment forCopilot, you're not alone.
This is complex stuff and thestakes are high.
Organizations that get thisright will have significant
(14:44):
competitive advantages.
Those that don't will struggleto realize AI benefits while
their competitors pull ahead.
The good news is you don't haveto figure this out on your own.
I've spent the last yeardocumenting everything I've
learned about informationarchitecture across my entire,
almost 20-year career workingwith SharePoint.
(15:04):
And I've just released the firstpiece of that journey, a
comprehensive guide calledModern Information Architecture
in SharePoint and Microsoft 365.
This guide is your foundation.
It's 109 pages that walk youthrough all the core components
of information architecture.
You'll understand libraries,views, folders, metadata,
(15:26):
content types, document sets,permissions, and workflows.
Most importantly, you'll seereal-world examples of how
organizations are implementingthese components to prepare for
AI.
And this isn't just theory.
It's practical implementationstrategies and specific
frameworks you can adapt to yourorganization.
(15:49):
you'll learn how to balance userneeds with AI requirements, so
you're not just building fortechnology, you're building for
people and productivity.
Now, this guide is just thebeginning of your journey.
At the end of this month, I'mreleasing a complete toolkit
that will take you fromunderstanding information
architecture to actuallyimplementing it in your
(16:11):
environment.
This toolkit will include allthe templates, schemas, and
step-by-step implementationguides you need to transform
your SharePoint.
But if you're serious aboutpreparing your SharePoint
environment for the AIrevolution, you need to start
with understanding thefundamentals.
This guide provides thatfoundation.
You can find it atsimplysharepoint.com.
(16:33):
And because you're a podcastlistener, I want to make sure
you know that this isn't justabout organizing content.
It's about positioning yourorganization for competitive
advantage in an AI-poweredworld.
The organisations that invest inproper information architecture
today will be the ones thatdominate their markets tomorrow.
(16:55):
The question is, will you beready?
Thanks for listening to SimplySharePoint.
Until next time, keep buildingbetter SharePoint experiences.