Every business has them. Little workarounds that started years ago, made sense at the time, and have quietly become "just how we do things."
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I was on a call this week discussing a client's Microsoft 365 setup. What came out of it was a masterclass in how good intentions turn into expensive habits — and how easy they are to fix once someone holds up the mirror.

During a training session, I showed the team how to share files externally using OneDrive. One person asked me to repeat it. "What did you just click?"

I clicked the button that literally says "Share."

Then the truth came out: "Oh, we just use WeTransfer. It's easier."

Some departments were paying for WeTransfer Pro. Others were using the free version — sending sensitive client files through a service with no way to revoke access, no tracking, and no visibility on what had been shared with who.

OneDrive — which they already pay for as part of Microsoft 365 — does the exact same thing. Only you can control who sees the file, set expiration dates on links, track who's opened them, and revoke access at any time.
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The cost wasn't just the WeTransfer subscription. It was the time spent on a manual process that didn't need to exist, and the risk of sending client files through a tool nobody was monitoring.

When I showed them OneDrive sharing, someone said: "When you share from OneDrive, the other person gets sent a verification code. Our members won't understand that."

I pointed out that these same people log into online banking. They verify their identity on government portals. They manage digital accounts across half a dozen services.

A six-digit code in an email is not the thing that's going to defeat them.

The objection sounds reasonable until you think about it for ten seconds. And that's the pattern with most workarounds — they're built on assumptions that nobody ever challenged.

The WeTransfer story is the one that gets people nodding, but it's never the only workaround hiding in a business. Here are three more from the same week.


The Task Sync That Went Wrong

Someone had connected their CRM tasks to Microsoft To Do. Smart idea — all your tasks in one place alongside your other to-dos.

But they got overwhelmed seeing everything listed out. So they deleted the tasks from To Do.

Which deleted them from the CRM too. Because that's what "synced" means.

The lesson isn't "don't connect your tools." It's understand what the tool does before you undo what it's done. The sync was working perfectly. The problem was that nobody explained what would happen if they started deleting things.


The "Put Everything in the CRM" Person

I asked a group where they track their actions and tasks. One person's answer — to literally every scenario I threw at them — was "put it in the CRM."

Career development goals? CRM. One-to-one notes with their manager? CRM. Personal reminders? CRM.

There's a point where a tool stops being useful and starts being a dumping ground. Not everything belongs in one place. The right tool for the right job — that's the whole point of having a suite of tools like Microsoft 365.

If your team is using workarounds that have become "just how we do things," you're not alone. I'm putting together a playbook on getting your team using what they already pay for. Get first access here.


85 Empty SharePoint Sites

The cherry on top: one organisation had 85 SharePoint sites with nothing in them. Created and abandoned over the years. Some of the original owners had left the company long ago.

Then they raised a support ticket asking for more storage space.

The storage wasn't the problem. The mess was. Once they started cleaning up — archiving abandoned sites, consolidating duplicates — the storage issue disappeared on its own.

Clean up before you scale up. It applies to technology the same way it applies to everything else.

Every one of these stories has the same root cause.

Nobody ever showed people the proper way to do things. So they found their own way. And once a workaround becomes a habit, it becomes invisible.

It's not laziness. It's not ignorance. It's human nature. If you need to share a file and nobody's shown you OneDrive, you Google "how to send a large file" and WeTransfer is the first result. You use it once, it works, and now that's your method. Forever.

The problem multiplies across a team. One person finds WeTransfer. They show a colleague. A department adopts it. Someone gets the Pro version. And now you're paying for something that duplicates what you already own — and nobody questions it because it's "how we do things here."
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Your business isn't running on your systems. It's running on the workarounds your people invented when nobody showed them the right way.
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Let me make this tangible. If you have a team of 10 people and each person wastes just 30 minutes a week on manual workarounds that Microsoft 365 could handle — that's over 250 hours a year. That's more than six working weeks of someone's time, gone.

Add the subscriptions for tools that duplicate what you already have. Add the time spent looking for files that are in three different places. Add the risk of sending client data through tools with no audit trail.

It's not a rounding error. It's a real cost that grows every month you don't address it.

When I led a modern workplace transformation at a Fortune 500 company, emails declined by 27%, people recovered 2.6 hours per person per week, and after-hours work fell by nearly 30%. That wasn't because we bought new technology. It was because we showed people how to use what they already had.
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The same principle applies to a business of 5 people or 50. The tools are already there. The gap is always the same: nobody showed them.
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You don't need a six-month project or an IT consultant. You need to do three things.


1. Find out what people are actually using

Ask your team — not what they're supposed to use, but what they actually use day-to-day. You'll find tools you didn't know about, subscriptions nobody remembers signing up for, and processes that exist because "someone set it up years ago."


2. Show them the proper way

This is the bit that makes the biggest difference. Most workarounds exist because nobody demonstrated the alternative. A 20-minute walkthrough of OneDrive sharing can replace a WeTransfer habit that's been running for three years. A quick session on where tasks should live can stop someone putting their career goals in the CRM.

People don't resist better tools. They resist change they don't understand. Show them why, not just what.


3. Agree on "what goes where"

The single most powerful thing you can do is create a simple one-page agreement: this is where files go, this is where conversations happen, this is where tasks live. Not a 40-page policy document. A one-pager that everyone can see and follow.
​In the work I do with clients, we call this the "What Goes Where" agreement. It takes about an hour to set up and it eliminates 80% of the confusion overnight.
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How do I know if my business has expensive workarounds?

Ask your team one question: "What tools do you actually use every day?" If the answer includes tools outside of Microsoft 365 that duplicate what M365 already does — file sharing, task tracking, team communication — you've got workarounds costing you money.


Is OneDrive really as good as WeTransfer for sharing files externally?

It's better. OneDrive lets you set expiration dates on links, require verification codes, track who's opened files, and revoke access at any time. WeTransfer gives you none of that. And OneDrive is already included in your Microsoft 365 subscription.


What if my team pushes back and says "we prefer the old way"?

That's normal. The fix isn't to ban the old tool overnight. Show them the alternative first. Let them use it for a couple of weeks. Once they see it works just as well — and often better — the resistance fades. People don't fight better tools. They fight being told to change without understanding why.


Should all our tasks be in one place?

Not necessarily. Customer-related tasks belong in your CRM. Personal reminders and to-dos belong in Microsoft To Do. Team project tasks belong in Planner. The key is knowing which tool is the right home for each type of task — not cramming everything into one system.


How long does it take to fix these habits?

The audit and the "What Goes Where" agreement can be done in a week. Changing habits takes longer — usually four to six weeks before the new way feels natural. But you'll see quick wins within the first fortnight, which builds momentum.


Do I need to be technical to sort this out?

No. This isn't an IT project. It's a "how do we work" conversation. The tools are straightforward once someone shows you. The hard part is getting people to let go of habits — and that's a people challenge, not a technology one.

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If your team is using Microsoft 365 at about 10% of its potential — paying for tools you're not using while also paying for tools you don't need — I can help.

I'm building a playbook on getting your team off workarounds and onto the tools you already pay for. Not theory. Real stuff from real client work.
Get first access to the Chaos Cure.

Or if you'd rather have someone take a proper look at your specific setup and show your team what they're missing:
Book a discovery call.
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Gavin Jones is the founder of MeeTime Ltd., a Microsoft 365 consultancy that helps businesses save time by getting more from the tools they already pay for. A chartered management accountant by training, Gavin spent fifteen years inside businesses before leading a modern workplace transformation at a Fortune 500 company — where emails declined by 27%, people recovered 2.6 hours per person per week, and after-hours work fell by nearly 30%. He now helps SMEs achieve the same results through direct consulting and his YouTube channel.
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Blog: How to Structure Microsoft Teams: The Digital Open-Plan Office Approach​
​Video: Microsoft Teams OneDrive Integration Tutorial
​Blog: Microsoft 365 Consulting: How to Finally Make Teams, SharePoint & Copilot Work Together (Not Against You)