Unlocking your storage

This article is part of a series exploring effective management of your 365 storage; brought to you by Ian Morrish, Information Leadership Infrastructure and Cloud Practice Lead. 

In today's digital age, video content is an integral part of how we communicate and share knowledge. However, as organisations increasingly rely on video for training, meetings, and presentations, they face a common challenge: storage capacity.  

With the sheer volume of video data generated (including transcripts), many organisations find themselves at the brink of their storage limits, leading to exponential cost increases.

What can you do about it? 

Evaluating your video content is the best place to start… after all, you may find even more video content being stored in users’ OneDrive’s! 

iWorkplace Smart Records can be used to provide valuable insights into your video storage usage. Not only can you review the amount of storage being used by videos but also which workspaces they reside in. 

Once you know the scale of content you are working with, you can begin looking at effective management strategies. For video content that holds no business value and is not subject to retention and disposal (R&D) requirements, this may be deleted – remember ‘deleting’ an item will send it to the recycle bin for a further 90 days and it may also be stored in the preservation hold library. 

Also check the version count of video files. Microsoft recently made a change so that updating metadata for a video no longer creates a full version copy, however older videos may have many versions consuming storage space. 

Introducing archive policies for your videos 

Some videos will need to be retained and disposed of appropriately – just as you would with other types of business files. 

Effective use of R&D policies ensures you are only retaining content for as log as you need to, before disposing of it. While essential, it is not without its challenges as the site and site collection recycle bins as well as the preservation hold library will need to be accounted for. 

Storing content outside of SharePoint 

Even with effective R&D policies in place, the fact remains that videos are large files that require a large amount of storage – no matter how long you are retaining them for. 

Storing videos outside of SharePoint with links back to the workspaces they formerly resided in is an effective way to reduce your storage costs while remaining compliant with record keeping requirements. 

How does this work? 

• Storing videos outside of SharePoint online allows you to select a cost-effective solution that meets the needs of your organisation. 

• By leaving a link behind in the workspace the video was previously stored in, users can continue to easily access the content, and the link can be subject to R&D policies. 

• Video streaming and a player solution embedded into SharePoint provides a seamless user experience. 

With the right tools and strategies, you can transform the way you store, archive, and access your video content, making it a seamless and cost-effective aspect of your digital workplace.  

Are you ready to take control of your video storage and archiving?  

Let's explore the possibilities together and ensure your video content serves its purpose without breaking the bank.