Slack Teams Compliance Checklist: Evaluating Chat Interoperability Solutions
Conclude Team
Sian Bennett
If Slack and Microsoft Teams both exist in your environment, the question often isn’t whether people will communicate across platforms – it’s how to do it without creating new risk. Chat interoperability can reduce that risk by keeping selected conversations aligned across Slack and Teams, but only if it is implemented with clear scoping, predictable data handling, and audit-ready administration.
This Slack Teams compliance checklist helps IT and compliance leaders evaluate chat interoperability solutions with a security-first lens. Use it to compare options consistently and document why a given approach is acceptable for your environment.
What This Checklist Covers
This checklist focuses on chat interoperability, specifically on two-way message and file sync between Slack and Microsoft Teams. It evaluates solutions that link specific channels or direct messages, allowing users to collaborate without leaving their native platform. It does not cover full platform migrations, tenant consolidations, or replacing your native retention policies. It assumes you are keeping both platforms active and need a secure layer to connect them without disrupting your existing governance.
Quick Review: Slack & Teams Compliance Checklist
Checklist area | What to confirm | Why it matters |
Identity and access | How the solution authenticates users and how it determines who can see and participate in a connected conversation | Helps you avoid creating a parallel access model or unclear access boundaries |
Scope and controls | Connections are explicit and limited to defined channels or direct messages, with clear admin ownership | Prevents accidental cross-posting and keeps governance boundaries clear |
Data handling | What is synced between Slack and Teams, what is stored (if anything), and how deletion works | Avoids unexpected data exposure and supports internal review |
Auditability | What administrative actions are logged, and how connection logs can be provided for audit or investigation | Supports evidence gathering and incident response when needed |
Retention and eDiscovery alignment | How retention, legal hold, and discovery are expected to work when conversations span Slack and Teams | Avoids gaps and clarifies what remains in native tools |
Procurement readiness | What security and compliance documentation is available (e.g., certifications, policies, subprocessors) | Reduces back-and-forth during vendor review |
The Cost of Fragmented Messaging Governance
Most large organizations manage more than one messaging platform. Even when consolidation is the long-term goal, a single-tool approach is often disruptive for technical teams and rarely works perfectly. This leaves you with a split Slack and Microsoft Teams environment that creates real risk if it is not managed carefully.
Common issues include:
- Shadow workarounds – disconnected tools lead employees to copy and paste messages, send email summaries, or use unapproved apps. This creates shadow messaging that is hard to track and audit
- More work for compliance teams – reviewing two systems for one conversation is inefficient. Manual reconstruction takes time and increases the chance of missing key details
- Regulatory risk – regulators expect a complete record of business communications. Gaps appear when conversations happen outside monitored channels
A secure chat integration like Conclude Connect can reduce these gaps by keeping selected conversations aligned across Slack and Teams. The aim is not to replace native governance, but to connect defined conversations in a way that remains predictable, reviewable, and defensible in an audit.
What Enterprise Teams Are Actually Looking For
IT and compliance teams need more than just a tool that syncs messages. They need to know that connecting their platforms won’t introduce new risks.
A secure interoperability approach should answer practical questions about identity, data handling, security, and auditability. These principles are designed to help you evaluate solutions and document the basis for internal approval.
Where Conclude Connect Fits In
Conclude Connect is a chat interoperability solution that links selected Slack channels to Microsoft Teams channels or chats, keeping messages aligned across both platforms without forcing everyone to use a single tool. Connections are explicit and scoped to the conversations you choose, making it easier to support cross-platform collaboration while maintaining clear boundaries for governance, security, and compliance review.
Principle 1: Identity and Permission Control
Your interoperability tool should use Slack and Microsoft Teams to verify who people are. It should not create a separate list of users that you have to manage manually.
Questions to ask
- Does the solution use our existing identity systems, or does it create a new user database?
- If we remove a user from Slack or Azure AD, do they lose access to the connection immediately?
- Can we restrict who is allowed to create cross-platform connections?
- Does channel membership match our existing permissions?
Why it matters
If a tool manages its own user list, it creates a parallel system to secure. When an employee leaves, you might remove them from Slack but forget to remove them from the bridge tool, creating a risk of unauthorized access.
How Conclude compares
Conclude uses a privacy-first approach and mirrors the identity and access rules already set up in Slack and Microsoft Teams. We request only the specific Microsoft Teams and Slack permissions required to function, never asking for broad admin access.
Principle 2: Security Evidence and Audit Readiness
You need to be able to verify that a vendor meets your enterprise security and compliance standards. A solid interoperability solution should provide clear evidence of its controls and offer enough connection-level logging to support troubleshooting and internal review.
Questions to ask
- What compliance certifications does the vendor have (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR)?
- Where can we review security documentation?
- What operational logs exist to troubleshoot connection issues and support investigation?
- Does the vendor have a clear process for breach notification?
- Are trust reports available for our security team on request?
Why it matters
Security review depends on evidence. Certifications help, but you also need enough operational visibility to investigate issues. Without that, internal review takes longer, and follow-up becomes harder.
How Conclude compares
Conclude is SOC 2 Type II certified, HIPAA compliant, and GDPR compliant. Conclude Connect retains the operational metadata and diagnostic logs needed to run and troubleshoot connections, including events like when a new connection is established or a sync error occurs. Security documentation and relevant reports are available on request. Connection logs can also be provided upon request to support investigation and compliance review.
Principle 3: Data Handling and Storage Boundaries
A compliance review should make it clear what data an interoperability solution processes, what it stores, and what it does not store. The safest approach for interoperability is to store as little data as possible.
Questions to ask
- Does the solution store message content and files, or only metadata?
- What metadata is stored to operate the connection?
- Where is any stored data hosted, and who are the subprocessors involved?
- How long is metadata retained, and how is it deleted?
- Can we request data deletion?
Why it matters
Interoperability adds a third system to your communication landscape. If content or files are stored outside Slack and Microsoft Teams, you introduce new exposure and new retention questions. Clear storage boundaries make it easier to assess risk and document your decision.
How Conclude compares
Conclude Connect does not store message content or files – it stores only the metadata required to operate and support the connection (like timestamps), which are secured on the Google Cloud Platform. This metadata is retained only for the duration of your contract and deleted within 30 days of a request. Connection metadata can be provided on request to support compliance review.
Because your message content stays inside your own Slack and Microsoft Teams accounts, the risk of your conversation history being exposed in a third-party breach is significantly reduced.
Principle 4: Retention, Legal Hold, and eDiscovery Alignment
Messaging interoperability should not undermine your existing retention and legal hold policies in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Since communication happens across two apps, your discovery team needs to capture the full picture without gaps.
Questions to ask
- Where do retention and legal hold policies apply when messages are synced between Slack and Teams?
- What happens if a message is edited or deleted in one platform?
- How are files handled across platforms (i.e., synced, linked, or not supported)?
- Where does eDiscovery typically take place for cross-platform conversations?
- What connection-level logs are available if you need additional context?
Why it matters
When a conversation spans different platforms, it’s important to have clear expectations up front to avoid gaps and reduce manual work during legal or compliance requests.
How Conclude compares
Conclude Connect is designed to work alongside your native retention and legal hold policies in Slack and Microsoft Teams rather than replacing them, so eDiscovery typically remains in your native tools. You can continue to use Microsoft Purview or Slack eDiscovery to find and preserve messages as you do today within each platform. Metadata is available on request to support compliance review when additional context is needed.
Putting It Together: Evaluating Chat Interop Solutions
A secure chat interoperability solution should act as a bridge, not a new platform or an inbox solution. It should keep Slack and Microsoft Teams as the primary systems of record, respect the identity and permission rules you already rely on, and extend your existing governance rather than replacing it.
Conclude Connect is built on that principle. It syncs messages and files between platforms without storing message content or files, so governance and retention remain in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Admins can also define how attachments are handled, including syncing files, sharing links, or disabling file sharing for a connection for greater control.
For a deeper look at the setup process, see How to Connect Slack and Microsoft Teams. Additional technical details are available on our Security policy page and in our security whitepaper.
Ready to collaborate with confidence across Slack and Microsoft Teams? Try Conclude free for 14 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does connecting Slack and Teams create compliance risk?
Yes, it can. When Slack and Microsoft Teams run side by side, conversations and decisions often get split across tools. That can reduce visibility, increase manual compliance effort, and create governance gaps if teams rely on copy-paste, email summaries, or other unofficial workarounds.
A secure Slack and Teams integration like Conclude Connect can reduce that risk by keeping selected conversations aligned across Slack and Teams with clear scoping, predictable data handling, and defined boundaries for governance and compliance review.
Does chat interoperability replace native retention policies in Slack or Teams?
No. Chat interoperability is not a replacement for your native retention policies in Slack or Microsoft Teams. It assumes you are keeping both platforms active and need a secure way to connect defined conversations without disrupting your existing governance.
Conclude Connect is designed to work alongside your native retention policies in Slack and Microsoft Teams rather than replacing them.
How do legal hold and eDiscovery work when conversations span Slack and Teams?
Legal hold and eDiscovery should remain in your native tools. Chat interoperability does not replace Slack or Microsoft Teams retention, legal hold, or discovery capabilities. It assumes you will continue using tools like Microsoft Purview and Slack eDiscovery to preserve and review messages within each platform.
With Conclude Connect, metadata is available on request to support compliance review when additional context is needed.
How is identity verified and access controlled for connected channels or chats?
A secure chat interoperability solution should use Slack and Microsoft Teams to verify who people are. It should not create a separate list of users that needs to be manually managed. This helps to avoid creating a parallel access model that introduces new risk.
Conclude Connect mirrors the identity and access rules already set up in Slack and Microsoft Teams. It does not bypass either platform’s permissions, and it never grants new access. Users only see synced content inside the Slack channels or Teams channels and chats they already have access to in their own platform.
Do Slack and Teams interoperability tools store messages and files?
It depends on the vendor, so it’s important to confirm whether an interoperability solution stores message content or files outside Slack and Microsoft Teams, or whether it only processes and syncs them between platforms. Also, confirm what metadata is stored to operate and support the connection, and how deletion works.
Conclude Connect does not store message content or files. It stores only the metadata required to operate and support the connection, which is later deleted. Metadata can be provided on request to support compliance review when additional context is needed.
Which security and audit readiness evidence should we ask for?
As a baseline, request a SOC 2 Type II report and documentation that supports GDPR compliance (this may carry a cost). If you operate in healthcare or handle regulated health data, confirm whether the vendor supports HIPAA compliance as well. You should also review the vendor’s subprocessor list to understand which third parties may process your data.
Conclude is SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR compliant, and HIPAA compliant. Conclude also works with industry-standard partners such as Google, Slack, and Microsoft.
What permissions does a Slack-Teams interoperability solution need?
Interoperability solutions should request only the permissions they strictly need to create and run the connection. As part of the security review, confirm which Slack and Microsoft Teams permissions are required and whether the vendor is asking for broad workspace-wide access versus scoped permissions aligned to the connection.
Conclude requests only the specific Microsoft Teams and Slack permissions required for Conclude Connect to function, rather than broad access to your entire workspace.
What should we validate during rollout to keep the connection secure and compliant?
Start with a limited scope and validate how the connection behaves in practice. Confirm identity and access rules, data handling expectations, and attachment behaviour. Document who owns the connection administratively and how your team will request metadata or logs if investigation context is needed.
