The modern workplace is under pressure. Remote work, cross-border collaboration, and rising data regulations have placed digital leaders in a daily balancing act: enabling productivity while enforcing security. As Gartner rightly stated at the Digital Workplace Summit in Texas earlier this year, “Chaos is exhausting—but it can also be empowering.” The challenge is knowing how to harness it.
At eSHARE, we couldn’t agree more. We see this chaos take shape in what we call Toxic Governance—an overcorrection by IT teams to maintain control, at the cost of collaboration. And we believe the path forward is not about eliminating complexity but using it as a springboard to build something better: Trusted Collaboration.
The Rise of Toxic Governance
It started innocently enough. In the early days of Microsoft 365, people embraced unmanaged sharing via email attachments—great for productivity, not so much for control. As the stakes around data security rose, tools like content collaboration platforms and virtual data rooms appeared. These offered more governance, but less flexibility.
Eventually, we landed on B2B managed sharing within M365, protected by technologies like Information Rights Management (IRM). While undeniably secure, these approaches became so locked down that collaboration suffered. What was meant to protect began to isolate.
This is the essence of Toxic Governance—a system that:
✇ Slows down access and sharing,
✇ Frustrates users with complex tools and workflows,
✇ And ultimately blocks productivity, prompting users to bypass rules just to get work done.
As Gartner pointed out in their keynote, 85% of organizations are still stuck in reactive modes—trying to control the chaos instead of leading through it. Toxic Governance is a perfect example of this reactive posture.
Trusted Collaboration: Turning Control into Confidence
eSHARE helps organizations shift from reacting to empowering—by transforming their approach to governance.
Trusted Collaboration is about replacing rigid restrictions with smart guardrails. It’s not about loosening controls but about applying them with intention and empathy. It is governance designed to support the user—not hinder them.
Here’s how we make that shift possible:
➲ Native Compliance
Built-in regulatory controls ensure that privacy, national security, and industry-specific requirements are met—without adding friction to the user experience.
➲ Self-Service Collaboration
Empower users to share and collaborate confidently, without needing to wait on IT or navigate clunky processes. Users stay productive, and data stays safe.
➲ Guided Security
Grounded in Zero Trust principles, our tools guide users through secure collaboration, reinforcing best practices while staying out of their way.
By rebuilding the trust between IT and knowledge workers, eSHARE enables organizations to unlock the full potential of their digital workplace investments—without sacrificing governance.
Join Us in London
We’re bringing this conversation to the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit in London, 19–20 May 2025. If your organization is grappling with the tension between control and collaboration, we’d love to show you what Trusted Collaboration looks like in action.
Let’s turn complexity into clarity. Let’s turn chaos into empowerment. Learn more here.
