Stop Microsoft Teams Sprawl: Governance Made Simple

THE PROBLEM

Microsoft 365 wasn’t built for the scale you’re operating at.

Teams was designed for collaboration, not governance. The moment your organization crosses a few hundred users, the cracks show: every employee can spin up a new Team, no one cleans up the dead ones, naming becomes a free-for-all, and external guests linger long after their projects end. IT carries the consequences, and the audit.

Uncontrolled Growth

Pain: Hundreds of Teams created without approval, half of them inactive.

Consequence: Unused teams still fill your tenant storage, every one widens your attack surface, and the compliance footprint gets harder to defend in an audit.

Manual Admin Overhead

Pain: Provisioning, naming, classification, archival, all done by hand.

Consequence: Your best IT people spend their weeks on Teams cleanup instead of strategic projects. Backlog grows. Burnout follows.

The Copilot Risk

Pain: Copilot indexes every Team it has access to, including the ones with stale permissions and forgotten sensitive content.

Consequence: A single Copilot query can surface data that should have been archived two years ago. You either delay AI rollout, or roll the dice.

THE SOLUTION

Governance that works the way IT actually works.

Policy by default, self-service for users, full audit for IT.

STEP 01

Define once

Build approval workflows, naming conventions, and templates once. Apply them across every new Team, automatically.

STEP 02

Provision by policy

Users request a Team through a guided form. IT defines what's allowed. Naming, classification, owners, and lifecycle are filled in automatically.

STEP 03

Govern on autopilot

Inactive Teams archive themselves on schedule. External User Manager reviews guest access regularly. Governance reports are one click away.

THE APPS BEHIND IT

A complete governance stack. Pick the piece you need first.

Core governance & lifecycle

Teams Manager

Automate provisioning, enforce naming policies, retire inactive Teams on schedule.

Approval workflows without PowerShell
Automatic archiving with lifecycle policies
A common choice for teams moving from ShareGate Provisioning

Explore Teams Manager →

Governance score and active spaces in the Teams Manager admin dashboard

Guest & external access control

External User Manager

Know exactly who from outside your tenant has access to what, and remove access that's no longer needed.

Periodic access reviews for guest accounts
Domain-based invitation rules
Audit reports for every managed guest and organization

Explore External User Manager →

Guest access under control with External User Manager, overview of externals

From Teams chaos to governance, in their own words.

Hear from IT leaders who replaced Teams sprawl with structured governance using Solutions2Share.

Teams Manager offers a huge relief for us through lifecycle management. The fact that team owners can regularly decide whether a team is still needed is a good reassurance.

Katharina Schepker

AEWB

Teams Manager is the perfect complement to our governance and adoption strategy for teams. It provides a way for us to intelligently apply naming conventions, metadata, and lifecycles to teams without a request process and maintain freedom for the teams facility for trained users.

Andreas Zinic

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

For us, Teams Manager is the perfect supplement when it comes to Teams governance. It closed the gaps that are not available with native options provided by Microsoft. The use of Teams Manager has enabled us to introduce Teams in the company in a targeted and well-dosed manner.

Olaf Kropp

ICT

The Microsoft Teams system has become simpler and more structured with the Teams Manager.

Sabrina Janta

Head of Process & Product Management, GOLDBECK SOLAR

The price is unbeatable! And in contrast to other providers, Teams Manager can be installed directly via the Microsoft Teams Store, which is a great solution. In just 10 minutes we were ready to go.

Marcel Walter

Manager Office 365 Consulting

The Teams Manager lifecycle in particular provides real added value: we don't produce any data waste here. Teams that are no longer needed are automatically deleted.

Dennis Schwoch

Board Member, DRK Kreisverband Gütersloh e.V.

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES

See how IT teams across industries use Solutions2Share to take control of Microsoft 365.

Teams Manager at IT-HAUS, case study on structure and lifecycle in Microsoft Teams

IT service and systems provider

Structure and governance in M365 at IT-HAUS GmbH

IT-HAUS brings structure to a fast-growing Microsoft Teams environment with Teams Manager: standardized templates, a clear creation process, and automatic cleanup of inactive teams.

Read Story →

Teams Manager and External User Manager at riha WeserGold, structure and automation in M365

Beverage manufacturer

Structure and automation in M365: How riha WeserGold saves significant time

riha WeserGold saves 50% time in team and guest management with Teams Manager and External User Manager, automating approval processes and external access control.

Read Story →

Teams Manager and External User Manager at Ernsting's family, M365 governance case study

Textile retail

Governance made easy: Ernsting's family relies on Teams Manager and External User Manager

Ernsting's family migrated from a competing governance tool to Teams Manager and External User Manager for more intuitive M365 governance.

Read Story →

View All Customer Stories →

FAQ

Microsoft Teams governance: common questions answered.

What is Microsoft Teams sprawl, and why is it a problem?

Teams sprawl is the uncontrolled creation of Microsoft Teams across an organization, typically without naming standards, owners, or expiry rules. Over time it fills your tenant storage, leaves teams without owners, creates security blind spots, and makes audits painful. Governance tools like Solutions2Share Teams Manager stop sprawl by enforcing policy at the moment a Team is requested.

Can I govern Microsoft Teams without writing PowerShell?

Yes. In Teams Manager, IT admins configure approval flows, templates, naming rules, and lifecycle in a UI, without scripting. Guest access reviews work the same way in External User Manager. For edge cases, Teams Manager offers a public API and webhooks.

How does Teams governance affect Microsoft Copilot rollout?

Copilot grounds its answers in whatever Teams and SharePoint content a user can access. If your tenant has stale Teams with over-permissioned content, Copilot will surface it. Fixing governance (archiving inactive Teams, tightening permissions, classifying sensitive Teams) is the prerequisite for a safe Copilot rollout.

ShareGate Provisioning was discontinued in August 2025. What's the alternative?

Many former ShareGate customers now run Teams Manager for their Microsoft 365 governance. It covers the same provisioning, templating, and approval scenarios, plus lifecycle management. Guest access is handled by External User Manager, a separate app. Our Migration Service supports the switch.

How does Solutions2Share differ from native Microsoft 365 governance tools?

Microsoft's native tools (Entra ID governance, sensitivity labels, retention policies) cover the basics but stop short of end-to-end provisioning workflows, granular guest lifecycle, or self-service request portals. Solutions2Share fills those gaps with a single, integrated layer that sits on top of M365, not replacing native controls but extending them.

How long does a Teams governance rollout typically take?

Installation and setup usually take one to two days. If you'd like help, our optional implementation support brings governance best practices and industry templates from our customer projects.

Microsoft Teams governance, without the chaos.

Microsoft 365 wasn’t built for the scale you’re operating at.

Uncontrolled Growth

Manual Admin Overhead

The Copilot Risk

Governance that works the way IT actually works.

Define once

Provision by policy

Govern on autopilot

Get the playbook before you call us.

A complete governance stack. Pick the piece you need first.

Teams Manager

External User Manager

From Teams chaos to governance, in their own words.

Katharina Schepker

Andreas Zinic

Olaf Kropp

Sabrina Janta

Marcel Walter

Dennis Schwoch

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES

Structure and governance in M365 at IT-HAUS GmbH

Structure and automation in M365: How riha WeserGold saves significant time

Governance made easy: Ernsting's family relies on Teams Manager and External User Manager

Take the next step on Teams governance.

Microsoft Teams Governance Guide

Microsoft Teams Governance Checklist

Governance Problems & Solutions

Microsoft Teams governance: common questions answered.

Ready to bring Microsoft Teams back under control?

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