A boat in Soderhammns

Risky, unsecure file sharing inspired this government. Here’s why.

Johanna Winqvist

Johanna Winqvist

Microsoft, Modern Workplace

Read Time, 2 min.

“This file is too large to send.”

We’ve all done it. When time is of the essence, and a large file won’t go where we want it to go, risky public file-transfer methods are suddenly a very appealing option. Security goes out the door in place of convenience. For local governments this creates a systemic problem, and huge security risks. Söderhamn’s local government, overseeing a coastal region in Sweden, decided not to rush to ban this behaviour but take lessons from why it was occurring. Then, turning to modern cloud technology, they sought to close the productivity gap causing the unsecured practices in the first place.

Söderhamn is made up of around 500 small Swedish islands, dotted along its coastal mainland. Famed for its historic ‘blue hills’, another historic asset garnered much less fame―an ageing on-premises infrastructure causing a slew of productivity issues. With new GDPR laws looming over all government practices like an overzealous watchdog, the status quo could no longer be maintained and a new way of working had become vital.

The benefits

With 2,500 full-time employees, overseeing everything from education to healthcare, sensitive documents were being regularly shared with file-sharing tools, email and, shockingly, written down. Acknowledging that these practices were occurring due to a gap in the available infrastructure and software to do their jobs safely, Söderhamns Kommun turned to the built-in security and productivity tools found in Microsoft 365 to give employees a secure environment to communicate and innovate.

“We saw the benefits of what they were doing. We didn’t want to ban people from using data in ways they shouldn’t, because it was much more convenient. We had to provide a solution and an environment where people didn’t have to come up with their own ways of doing things.”

Read the full customer story here.

Free eBook: A crash course in upgrading to Windows 10

Learn how easy it is to upgrade to Windows 10

Discover more related articles per industry:

Education

  • A guide to GDPR for universities

    A guide to GDPR for universities

    With the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation coming into effect on May 25, understand how universities like yours can take the right steps towards compliance with this free eBook – and other useful resources. Your university on a journey on a journey Your university is on a journey with lots of ‘data subjects’. They’re […]

Government

Healthcare

  • Two female nurses having a virtual conversation through Microsoft Teams

    Belfast Trust: Reimagining patient care

    “There have been many heroic actions by our staff but we’re not heroes for what we’ve done – I’m just glad we could do our bit to help.” Paul Duffy, Co-Director of IT and Telecommunications at Belfast Trust, is talking about the monumental impact COVID-19 has had on the healthcare sector and how virtual consultations […]

  • The ‘Big Bang’ approach to digital transformation – and how to make it work

    The ‘Big Bang’ approach to digital transformation – and how to make it work

    These days there’s no such thing as ‘business as usual’. Change and disruption are the new normal. Just think of the changes affecting your organization right now, with new technology and techniques driving new attitudes and expectations from employees and customers alike. Everything is changing. And the one thing all those changes have in common […]

Manufacturing

  • Etex

    Etex uses modern tools to unite its business and better focus on customers

    When it comes to construction, all components must come together in a timely manner in order to produce the optimum product. While Etex, a Belgian building solution manufacturing company, helps make this a reality on a day-to-day basis, it wanted to find a way to enhance productivity and collaboration internally. With locations across more than […]

Retail

  • GDPR and Retail: Four GDPR requirements and how Microsoft can help

    GDPR and Retail: Four GDPR requirements and how Microsoft can help

    Learn how we can help you meet GDPR requirements with solutions available today: Assessing your current risk profile “How do I understand where I am already compliant and where I need to focus next?” This is one of the most common questions from retailers in regard to the GDPR. It’s also one of the hardest to […]

  • HeadBrands is ready for the future with Microsoft 365 Business

    HeadBrands is ready for the future with Microsoft 365 Business

    Since its creation in 2010, HeadBrands has continued to grow, rapidly becoming the leading retailer of hairdressing products in Scandinavia. HeadBrands needed a modern IT solution to increase its business productivity and improve collaboration, both within the company and externally. Its response to this challenge was to replace most of its previous services with Microsoft […]

Discover more related articles per dossier:

Customer Stories

  • HeadBrands is ready for the future with Microsoft 365 Business

    HeadBrands is ready for the future with Microsoft 365 Business

    Since its creation in 2010, HeadBrands has continued to grow, rapidly becoming the leading retailer of hairdressing products in Scandinavia. HeadBrands needed a modern IT solution to increase its business productivity and improve collaboration, both within the company and externally. Its response to this challenge was to replace most of its previous services with Microsoft […]

Digital Transformation

Press

  • Microsoft Research Reveals Digital Culture’s Key Role in Irish Organisations’ Competitiveness

    Microsoft Research Reveals Digital Culture’s Key Role in Irish Organisations’ Competitiveness

    NEWS RELEASE Microsoft Research Reveals Digital Culture’s Key Role in Irish Organisations’ Competitiveness Without a strong digital culture, introducing more technology reduces employee engagement Microsoft Ireland’s research shows: Only 11% of Irish employees feel highly productive in their job and 14% feel highly engaged. While 90% of employees report low innovation in their organisation. Where […]

Security & Privacy

  • Sofie Lindblom sat with Surface device in boardroom

    200 billion reasons why companies must face up to the challenge of cyber security

    200 billion. That’s how many connected devices there will be worldwide by 2021. It’s an incredible number – and one that’s going to have massive implications for the way we live and work. Today, everyone is mobile. We can work from anywhere and share our work and our passions seamlessly from device to device. The office cubicle is a relic; work has never been so fluid. It’s a wonderful thing – but it creates a big challenge. Security. […]

Tips

  • a group of people sitting at a table

    A single collaboration hub to help sales soar

    Do you want to know Microsoft’s secret to sales success? Collaboration. It’s at the heart of its culture and solutions. Today, companies investing in teamwork are five times more likely to be high-performing, so collaboration could be the difference between profit and loss. When compared to five years ago, an average information worker spends 50% […]