Top-tier accounting firm unifies 15,000+ staff across 80+ offices globally

Teceze deployed M365 and Teams platform enabling seamless collaboration across audit, tax, and advisory practices with 100% ethical wall compliance. The result: 5,000+ secure client sites, 15,000 staff unified on single platform, 80+ offices connected, and audit-ready governance with zero client confidentiality breaches.

About the Client

Professional Services Network is a leading Professional Services (Accounting & Audit) organization operating across 80 Global Offices. The organization provides M365 & Teams deployment.

At a glance

Industry
Professional Services (Accounting & Audit)
Headquarters
80 Global Offices
Products & services
M365 & Teams deployment, client matter sites in SharePoint, retention policies for audit, ethical wall automation, external client secure sharing
Challenge
Client confidentiality and ethical walls, varying retention requirements across jurisdictions, partner resistance, complex external collaboration

Success highlights

  • 15,000 partners and staff unified on a single collaboration platform
  • 5,000+ secure client matter sites enabling external collaboration
  • 80+ offices globally connected with real-time collaboration
  • 100% ethical wall compliance with zero confidentiality breaches

The challenge

Corporate meeting

Unified collaboration with ethical wall compliance

15,000 staff across 80 offices requiring secure collaboration while maintaining strict ethical walls between engagements

Professional Services Network operates top-tier accounting firm with strict confidentiality requirements. Client ethical walls—preventing partners from accessing competitor engagements—are non-negotiable legal requirements.

Retention requirements vary by jurisdiction: some engagements require 7-year retention, others indefinite. Partner resistance to changing workflows created adoption friction. External client collaboration required secure sharing without compromising data security.

Our approach

Teams-First Collaboration Platform with Automated Ethical Wall and Retention Management

Teceze built the collaboration platform around the single hardest constraint in professional services: confidentiality between engagements has to hold automatically, not depend on staff remembering who can see what. Each client engagement runs in its own private Teams channel, with role-based access preventing any cross-engagement visibility and automated channel creation and archiving tied to the engagement lifecycle, backed by super-user monitoring to catch inadvertent access before it becomes a problem. SharePoint ethical walls are enforced automatically, using list-based access control derived directly from engagement data so partners are structurally blocked from competitor matter sites without relying on manual approval queues, with every access attempt logged for audit. Retention policies are configured by jurisdiction to match local legal requirements, with automatic deletion after the retention period, a manual override path for litigation holds, and compliance reporting showing retention status by matter and jurisdiction. External collaboration runs through a secure client guest portal, with access scoped to specific engagements, automatic expiration at engagement end, and DLP controls preventing sensitive data from leaving the allowed scope.

From challenge to transformation, the solution included:

Teams Channels per Engagement

Private Teams channels per client engagement with role-based access preventing cross-engagement visibility, automated channel creation and archiving, and super-user monitoring against inadvertent access.

SharePoint Ethical Wall Automation

Automated access controls preventing partners from accessing competitor matter sites, list-based access derived from engagement data, and audit logging of every access for compliance verification.

Jurisdiction-Aware Retention

Retention policies configured by jurisdiction, automatic document deletion after the retention period, manual override for litigation holds, and compliance reporting by matter and jurisdiction.

Client Guest Access Portal

Secure client portal for external collaboration, guest access scoped to specific engagements, automatic expiration at engagement end, and DLP preventing sensitive data sharing outside allowed scope.

Governance and Reporting Cadence

Operational transparency and stakeholder alignment are critical to program success. A layered governance model keeps program health and costs visible:

Cadence Forum Focus
Daily Engagement Stand-up Channel creation requests, access control issues, partner collaboration blocks
Weekly Compliance Review Ethical wall enforcement status, retention policy compliance, guest access audit
Monthly Governance Call Audit trail analysis, retention management status, client confidentiality incident review
Quarterly Business Review Partner adoption metrics, client satisfaction, regulatory compliance posture
The Results

Proven results at scale

15KStaff Enabled
5,000+Client Matter Sites
100%Ethical Wall Ready
15KPartners and staff unified on a single collaboration platform
5,000+Secure client matter sites enabling external collaboration
80+Offices globally connected with real-time collaboration

What the client says

“Professional services lives or dies by client confidentiality and partner trust. We needed a collaboration platform that doesn’t compromise ethics. Teceze built ethical walls into the platform—partners literally cannot access competitor work. Retention is automatic by jurisdiction. Client matter sites are secure and audit-ready. We finally have the collaboration velocity of a modern tech company with the compliance rigor our profession demands.”

— Managing Partner

Delivery partnership

How Teceze Executes on This Engagement

Teceze provided M365 architecture design, Teams governance implementation, ethical wall automation setup, SharePoint retention policy configuration, client portal development, audit logging and compliance dashboards, and ongoing support. Governance model includes daily engagement standups, weekly compliance reviews assessing ethical wall enforcement, monthly governance calls analyzing audit trails and confidentiality incidents, and quarterly business reviews covering adoption metrics and regulatory posture.

Looking ahead

Post-engagement Value and Ongoing Partnership

The Professional Services Network maintains market-leading collaboration capabilities with uncompromised ethics. Teceze implemented automated ethical wall enforcement preventing inadvertent cross-engagement disclosure. Audit partners maintain detailed collaboration trails supporting regulatory compliance and client audits. Client matter sites enable secure external collaboration accelerating engagement delivery. The organization expands through advanced analytics identifying collaboration patterns to drive practice growth and client satisfaction.

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