Kantar reduces storage costs with Microsoft 365 Archive

Kantar centralized content in Microsoft 365 and used Microsoft 365 Archive to tier cold data, cut storage costs, and protect Copilot accuracy. Using a fully automated site lifecycle and MVP policy with monthly opt-out emails, they archived 40,000+ sites (~100 TB), saw <1% reactivation, and plan file-level archiving in 2026.

Kantar moved large volumes of content into Microsoft 365 and rolled out Copilot. They then adopted Microsoft 365 Archive to cut storage costs and improve data quality.

Main feature/change and impact

Microsoft 365 Archive introduced a cold storage tier for inactive SharePoint and Teams data. Kantar archived sites inactive for six months using automated lifecycle policies. This reduced active SharePoint storage usage and kept archived data under Microsoft 365 security and compliance controls. The change prevented stale data from polluting Copilot and Gen AI outputs while lowering ongoing storage expenditure.

Practical implications

Kantar automated identification and notification of inactive sites each month. Site owners could opt out or let the automated process archive their site. Over time, Kantar archived over 40,000 sites, freeing nearly 100 terabytes. The archive retains search and metadata capabilities, so users can restore context when needed. The process supports a global, opt-out lifecycle policy and scales with SharePoint Advanced Management.

“For Copilot to deliver meaningful insights and support collaboration, it needed clean, centralised, and relevant data.”

Kantar plans to pilot file-level archiving to target large inactive media files in 2026. They expect further storage savings and reduced Copilot noise from obsolete files. Next steps include moving from custom tooling to SharePoint Advanced Management for broader automation.

Key points from the article:

Microsoft 365 Archive provides a lower-cost cold storage tier within SharePoint.

Automated monthly emails enable opt-out site lifecycle management at scale.

Kantar archived over 40,000 sites, reclaiming nearly 100 terabytes of storage.

Less than 1% of archived sites required reactivation, reducing user disruption.

File-level archival and SharePoint Advanced Management planned for 2026 rollout.

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