If you had told me years ago — when I was working in fashion and obsessing over structure, layout and how people move through physical spaces — that I would one day be featured in an AI and Security spotlight, I would never in a million years have believed you. And yet recently I was profiled by Rockstar Women in AI & Security for my work across SharePoint, governance and AI readiness. When I look back at the path that led here, it actually makes more sense than it first appears. While the industries have changed, the underlying principles have not.
AI Doesn’t Fix the Mess — It Exposes It
There is enormous momentum around Microsoft Copilot and AI adoption right now. Organisations are excited about productivity gains, automation, and smarter ways of working. But AI is not a magic layer that fixes poor structure underneath. AI works with what already exists. If permissions are unclear, Copilot will surface content that perhaps should not be widely visible. If document libraries are poorly structured, search results become noisy and unreliable. If ownership is undefined, outdated information continues to circulate. AI does not fix those issues; it exposes them. Strong information architecture has always mattered, but in the AI era it has become non-negotiable.
A Design-Led Approach to Digital Workspaces
My career began in fashion, where you quickly learn that how something is arranged shapes how it is experienced. Structure influences behaviour. Flow influences usability. Placement influences decision-making. That thinking translated naturally into digital environments. SharePoint is not simply file storage; it is a space people navigate every day. They search within it, collaborate inside it and rely on it to perform their roles effectively. When that space is not designed with intention, frustration builds quietly over time. Information architecture is often framed as a technical exercise, but in reality it is about human behaviour. It is about designing environments that align with how people actually work, not just how systems are configured.
Governance as Enablement, Not Restriction
Governance is frequently misunderstood as bureaucracy. In practice, good governance makes work easier, safer and more sustainable. It clarifies ownership, defines structure and establishes consistency. In the context of AI, governance becomes even more important because intelligent tools operate across content that has already been created. If that content is inconsistent, duplicated, or poorly managed, the results reflect that. AI readiness is not achieved by switching features on. It is achieved by strengthening the foundations that AI will rely upon: structured libraries, controlled permissions, sensible naming conventions and lifecycle management. These are not new ideas, but they have become urgent again.
Security, Trust, and Responsible AI
Being recognised in an AI and security context reinforces something I have long believed: collaboration and security are deeply connected. Weak information architecture creates exposure. Over-permissioned environments introduce risk. Uncontrolled sprawl reduces clarity and increases compliance concerns. When digital environments are thoughtfully structured, they do more than organise files. They create trust. People trust the information they find. Leaders trust the insights AI provides. Organisations trust that access is controlled and intentional. Responsible AI adoption is inseparable from strong information management.
The Work Remains the Same
For nearly two decades, my work has focused on helping organisations move from fragmented, high-risk collaboration environments to structured, sustainable ones. That includes designing clear information architecture, establishing practical governance frameworks, simplifying SharePoint structures, strengthening permissions and aligning technology to real-world behaviour. AI has not changed those fundamentals; it has simply made them more visible. The conversation is louder now, the stakes are higher, and the exposure is faster, but the solution remains the same: fix the foundations first. There truly is no AI without IA.
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