Uncovering Hidden Risks with Erica Toelle

Erica Toelle is the Senior Product Marketing Manager on the Microsoft Purview product team. Her focus is on growing the Data Lifecycle and Records Management business and listening to customers and partners to make solutions better. She and Tom Fox discuss her podcast, her book, and the relationship between technology and humans.

Relaunching the Uncovering Hidden Risks Podcast

Tom asks Erica why she relaunched her podcast. Erica explains that she hopes to target chief security officers, and people in compliance leadership roles, and provide information on topics they are interested in learning about. In particular, the podcast explores how enterprises can reduce their risk by moving to a more holistic approach to data protection. The world of compliance is rapidly changing, with new regulations and privacy laws being implemented regularly, and the leaders want to know and understand how their peers successfully comply. Erica says that her podcast will bring these stories to life, “so that we can all learn from the best practices and success and hopefully apply them in our own situation.”

Technology Requires Humans

Tom comments that a common theme on Erica’s podcast is the human element. Erica explains that technology cannot function without the human element. Technology takes care of collecting data and presenting it in a way that would help people make the best business decisions. However, no algorithm can replace the human ability to weigh, analyze and make a decision when it comes to identifying and managing risks, and driving compliance. 

Microsoft 365 Compliance

Erica wrote a book entitled Microsoft 365 Compliance; Tom asks what inspired her to write this book and who is her intended audience. When the pandemic hit, Erica responds, she was working as a consultant at Microsoft helping customers deploy compliance tools. She was one of the only Microsoft Teams compliance experts in the world. It was a stressful period as she was trying to keep governments and business afloat and online. This situation taught her that there was a need for more compliance experts who were familiar with Microsoft’s compliance technology. Therefore, she decided to write a book to make the assimilation into the job and online compliance sphere easier for her successors. 

Looking Ahead

In the future, Erica would like to address more topics her listeners would like to hear about related to compliance. Additionally, she would like to interview more diverse guests to get a broader perspective on what is happening in the compliance space outside of Microsoft.

Resources 

Erica Toelle | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Uncovering Hidden Risks Podcast | Microsoft 365 Compliance: A Practical Guide to Managing Risk