The balance: Controlled Collaboration superpower

or: Why Drive sharing is restrictive or: Why won't you let the dogs out?

Some people look at Google Workspace and think that being a controlled platform counts against it - while it is actually the opposite. Let me show you why a closed platform protects our work in progress and how we selectively open it up. Compared to the way we worked before, this a whole different level of working.

We talked about Google Sites being a brilliant way of hosting content securely and sharing it with your clients using Visitor Sharing. We talked about Office Editing being a brilliant way to edit Office documents your clients need in that format. We talked about Visitor Sharing being a brilliant way of sharing with your clients while keeping control of your file - maximum security with maximum flexibility. Now that you know how you can share with your clients when you need to, let's bring it all together (and finish of the series) of why Drive is locked down and why this is a good thing, preventing mistakes.

Welcome, welcome. Anybody can join, bring your documents, we will edit them and you can take what you need... #not. That was yesterday - you use Google Workspace and what is shared is up to you.

Reason 1: Access control

Access control seems to be the most obvious reason to restrict sharing, but do not be fooled: Drive is about MUCH more than simple "XYZ cannot see my stuff". Everyone knows that a confidential memo can be printed, screenshotted, photographed, memorized. Yes, Google Workspace protects information by preventing email printing, email forwarding and locking down shared drives and dozens of AI-enabled mechanisms enforcing the policies our administrators set in the background.

But this is not why you need to restrict sharing - our end products are taken care of. The reason is being in charge of the production process.

You cannot let outsiders run away with your products

You restrict sharing to prevent untrusted outsiders sharing with you. Since we provide value in Docs, Sheets and Slides and may be held accountable for what goes on in those deliverables, you must retain control over these documents and be sure not to partial documents circulating out there. If you add your professional opinion to a document someone else owns, they control what happens to that document.

Your brand and reputation is valuable and you do not want them circulating without your approval.

You need to shut out people at the right time

Access control means we are in charge. People need to collaborate on your documents and on our terms, so you can slam the door if you have to - such as when the document is in its final state and will be locked down.

It may be by unsharing obsolete documents or by making sure that people are looking at the correct version with correct access rights. With Visitor Sharing, you maintain an unprecedented amount of control over what is shared.

Reason 2: Attribution

You need to be in charge of the narrative

If you have ever issued a statement in the name of your company, to a client or the press, you will be aware of the care applied to those statements. When you work on a document owned by a third party and they take away your editing rights, you may leave an unapproved document in the wild, with statements you do not want out there.

Emailing an Office document back and forth leaves us vulnerable to that, as would unmanaged Drive sharing (which you should disable at your company).

You may need to prove who did, said what

Disputes happen all the time - usually they are resolved quickly, but sometimes they turn nasty. If they do, you may need proof of who said what. You may lose the audit trail if the document that you collaborated on was not under your control.

Visitor Sharing helps maintain that audit trail and makes sure you (and your clients) are covered.

Is Drive limited?

Drive is not limited at all, but there are settings that most big companies like ours will change to make Drive work better for them. Drive's default setting is highly permissive: You can share out and receive from anybody with a Google account and this certainly works for smaller companies, like agencies and startups. But for big companies, companies in regulated markets or anybody with demanding clients such as banks, this needs to be adjusted.

The solution

The solution is to be in charge of what is shared, which brings me to the end of a long series of posts I have been leading you guys up to.

Locking down our environment

This has already been done. Our watchful Google Workspace administrators and Network Information Security keep our environment safe. While this does not mean you should switch off your brain, it means that the room for errors has been greatly reduced - especially when compared to legacy solutions like emailing Office documents in different stages back and forth.

Sharing with trusted clients

We are able to bring Google Workspace's awesome power to bear on our interactions with clients. PwC is already using it with thousands - not a typo: THOUSANDS - of clients to share and jointly edit documents, while maintaining control. Clients love it and its growing exponentially.

Office Editing

Google's editors can perfectly handle Excel, PowerPoint and Word. You can open those documents once they are in Drive and start editing them collaboratively. You will be able to finally bring Google smarts to them, like advanced commenting or AI suggestions.