Defender Soft Token - Android token & authentication

If you require two-factor authentication to access your business network and resources but wish to avoid carrying an additional device, this solution is perfect for you!

When paired with Defender, the Defender Soft Token allows you to utilize your Android device as a token, facilitating two-factor authentication for your corporate network and resources.

Note: For information about obtaining Defender, please reach out to the appropriate channels.

Managing Microsoft Teams the right way: Balancing freedom and control

Microsoft Teams has become the standard tool for digital collaboration in companies, public institutions and organizations alike. The platform offers all the functions modern teams need: Chat, meetings, file storage, project collaboration and more – fundamentally changing the way we work together across states and countries. But despite all the enthusiasm, Teams is not without its drawbacks – especially when used without proper control.

The appeal of flexibility

One of Microsoft Teams’ greatest strengths is its flexibility. Teams and channels can be created quickly and easily – even by business departments directly, without needing IT involvement. This leads to high user adoption: Employees can get started immediately, collaborate on projects and even work seamlessly with external partners.

Cross-organizational collaboration has become easier than ever. More and more companies now work together using shared Teams spaces – without endless email threads or context switching.

But who’s actually in control?

What may initially seem like a digital dream quickly reveals challenges in practice. When flexibility has no boundaries, chaos is inevitable:

A new team is created for every project

The exact purpose of each team becomes unclear

Ownership and accountability go missing

Memberships go unmanaged

Permissions and settings spiral out of control

In short: Managing Microsoft Teams can quickly become a real headache.

Roles & permissions: But with clarity, please

Within a team, there are three basic roles:

Owner, Member and Guest. Each role comes with defined permissions – such as inviting users, creating channels or changing settings.

Microsoft also offers predefined administrative roles for broader management, such as:

Teams Administrator

Teams Communications Administrator

But here's the catch:

Not all permissions can be delegated in a granular way. For instance, if you only want to allow management of guest access, you often have to assign a full administrative role – granting far more access than necessary. This lack of fine-tuning complicates role distribution and increases the risk of misconfiguration.

Conclusion: Control is good, governance is better

Microsoft Teams can be a true powerhouse for modern collaboration – but only if clear structures and responsibilities are in place.

Organizations should implement a well-thought-out Teams governance strategy early on:

Who is allowed to create new teams?

What naming conventions must be followed?

Who is responsible for maintenance and oversight?

How is guest access handled?

Without proper control, the flexibility of Teams can quickly turn into uncontrollable sprawl – pushing efficient collaboration further out of reach.

One Identity Active Roles: Taking Microsoft Teams governance to the next level

Especially when managing Microsoft Teams, it becomes evident that the standard tools in the Microsoft Admin Center fall short – particularly for fine-grained permissions and complex governance requirements.

That’s where One Identity Active Roles comes in.

Fine-grained permissions, without compromise

With Active Roles, you can define much more precise permissions than Microsoft’s native tools allow. A perfect example: Managing guest access in Teams.

Instead of assigning a broad administrative role, Active Roles enables you to delegate specific rights for managing guest settings – independently of other Teams permissions.

This is done using Access Templates, allowing you to control and delegate every permission with precision. As a result, responsibilities are clearly defined and security risks are reduced.

Graph API? Not an issue

Some Teams settings can only be configured via the Microsoft Graph API – not through the Admin Center. Active Roles solves this challenge as well.

It enables centralized management of both Admin Center settings and API-specific configurations. These too can be delegated selectively, without the need to assign full administrative access.

Figure: Microsoft Admin Console versus Active Roles

The benefit? Technical complexity is abstracted, while visibility and security are improved – even for highly specialized scenarios.

Naming conventions? Finally enforceable

Another common issue: Inconsistent team naming. The Microsoft Admin Center offers no native enforcement for naming policies. Active Roles, however, allows input validation during team creation using custom rules.

Examples include:

Auto-generated names following a defined schema (e.g., DE-Sales-ProjectX)

Mandatory fields for department, region, or project code

Blocking of prohibited words or special characters

Figure: Microsoft Admin Console versus Active Roles

The result: Consistent data structures, easier reporting and improved discoverability.

Governance over chaos: Approval-based Team creation

To prevent uncontrolled growth, Active Roles supports approval workflows for creating new Teams spaces. The same can be applied to Microsoft 365 Groups.

You can define:

Who is allowed to create new teams

Which naming conventions must be followed

Who is authorized to approve requests

This approach reduces unnecessary structures, saves costs and improves overall organization.

Easy delegation – even for archiving

Tasks like archiving Teams can also be delegated through Active Roles to specific teams or roles – for example, to a support team that otherwise has no administrative access.

This allows routine operations to be cleanly distributed – without compromising security.

Final thought: Active Roles brings order to the Teams chaos

Microsoft Teams has become an essential part of modern work – but without solid governance, it can quickly become unmanageable.

One Identity Active Roles significantly extends what’s possible in the Microsoft ecosystem by enabling:

Granular delegation of permissions

Enforcement of naming conventions

Support for API-based settings

Approval workflows for Teams creation

Clear responsibilities without over-permissioning

If you're looking to run Microsoft Teams strategically, securely and efficiently, a platform like Active Roles is not just helpful – it’s essential.