Microsoft 365 Groups vs. Distribution Lists
Your organization is rebranding and hired a local marketing firm to help with the new logo, slogan and website redesign. So, you create a Microsoft 365 Group, allowing everyone to share an inbox, a calendar, a SharePoint library and more.
Seems efficient, right?
Possibly, but the bigger threat is the security issues that come with sharing internal resources with external contacts.
Is it worth the added security risk to be slightly more efficient?
Groups and distribution lists both allow for collaboration, but in different ways. Let’s dive into what they are and when you should use each.
365 Groups: A Shared Workspace
Microsoft 365 Groups are a shared workspace that allows members to share emails, a calendar, files, chats, task assignments and more across the various Microsoft 365 products.
When you create a group, a shared inbox is automatically created that is accessible to all members.
You also don’t have to assign permissions to each of these resources: Everyone in the group automatically has the permissions they need.
But that convenience comes with a cost: Once someone is in the group, they have access to everything.
365 Distribution Lists: Email Only
A distribution list is a list of email addresses that allows you to send emails to multiple recipients without manually entering each address.
For example, if you have 20 people on a sales team, you can create a sales distribution list that will email all members of the sales team.
A distribution list only allows you to email members; there is no shared inbox, calendar or other resources.
It’s the safer choice when working with contractors, vendors or clients.
Security should be more important than efficiency. Don’t let the need for increased productivity lead to oversharing sensitive information with external contacts.
Which One Should You Use?
Our advice is to use groups for internal teams and use distribution lists for external members.
When you add external members to groups, you risk:
- Untracked changes to files
- Accidental exposure of sensitive data
- Access from unmanaged devices that IT/MSP can’t secure
On top of these headaches, you could be violating compliance standards.
Distribution lists won’t be as efficient, but you won’t have to worry about oversharing files that external members don’t need access to. You simply email any files you need to share on a case-by-case basis.
Groups = internal; distribution lists = external
Security should be more important than efficiency. Don’t let the need for increased productivity lead to oversharing sensitive information with external contacts.
If you want to learn more about groups or distribution lists, contact us. We can audit your Microsoft 365 environment to help you collaborate safely without sacrificing efficiency.
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