4. Ethical Use of Online Collaboration Platforms
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the international business world was forced to adapt and respond to unprecedented challenges, one of the most significant being the rapid and large-scale transition to remote work. The sudden switch to the “work from home” model necessitated an immediate, often unstructured shift to online collaboration platforms; this required employees and organisations alike to quickly familiarise themselves with online collaboration tools that could sustain communication, coordination, and productivity as close to “business as usual” as possible. The list of such tools includes:
Shared cloud environments
Project Management Suites
Instant messaging apps
Video conferencing platforms
Some popular professional online collaboration tools are:
Microsoft TEAMS: An extensive workplace platform combining chat, video conferencing, and file sharing. It is widely used in corporate environments due to its integration with the Microsoft 365 Suite. It has a built-in AI Assistant that helps record minutes and produce summaries of meetings.
Slack: A messaging tool that can be used to organise users into channels. It enables efficient team communication, file sharing, and integration with thousands of external applications such as Asana and Google Drive.
Zoom: A widely used virtual meeting platform. It is used for hosting webinars and video calls and has supporting features such as screen sharing, recording, and breakout rooms. It has a built-in AI Assistant that helps record minutes and produce summaries of meetings.
Google Workspace: A cloud-based suite that includes tools like Google Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Meet. It allows real-time collaboration and simultaneous document editing. Google Meet has a built-in AI Assistant that helps record minutes and produce summaries of meetings.
Asana: Another project and task management platform that enables teams to assign responsibilities, track deadlines and manage complex projects.
Notion: An all-in-one workspace combining AI-powered note-taking tools, databases, task management and documentation. It is often used by professional teams for knowledge sharing and internal collaboration.
Figma: A cloud-based design and prototyping tool. It is primarily used for User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design. It enables multiple users to collaborate in real time on the same project, and it is widely used by designers, software developers, and product development teams.
This sudden but ultimately successful transition ensured business continuity during the crisis, and accelerated the development and normalisation of digital collaboration tools. Importantly, even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, these tools have remained at the forefront of modern work and business environments, constituting hybrid and remote working models as long-term practices rather than temporary solutions during crises.
These tools and platforms significantly contribute to remote work efficiency, flexibility and teamwork, but they also introduce new ethical and data protection challenges that need to be considered.
4. a. Responsible Use of Digital Collaboration Platforms: Ethics and GDPR
Many online collaboration tools include AI features such as automated drafting of minutes, smart suggestions, and content generation. Without exception, users must be aware that they are closely linked to both AI ethics and GDPR principles. Information shared within these environments (such as private/group messages, uploaded documents, pictures, screenshots) may be stored, analysed, and, in some cases, accessed by third-party service providers. This raises important concerns regarding GDPR principles such as confidentiality, data minimisation, and purpose limitation.
For example:
| BENEFITS | RISKS | |
|---|---|---|
| Slack | - Fast communication through various channels - Integration with third-party applications - Easy collaboration across teams and departments |
- Informal communication may lead to unprofessional conduct and/or data leaks - Risk of sharing confidential information in the wrong channel - Data stored on external servers must be addressed by internal GDPR policies |
| Zoom | - Accessible and user-friendly - Includes features such as recording and breakout rooms - AI-assisted meeting summaries |
- Unauthorised access by third parties to meetings (“ZoomBombing”), if meetings are not scheduled carefully and links are not secured - Storage of recorded meetings may raise data protection concerns; meeting recordings must be done with the explicit consent of all participants |
| Google Workspace | - Real-time collaboration on documents - Cloud-based storage - Easy access across devices - Integrated AI features that support productivity and documentation |
- Accidental public sharing of documents via incorrect sharing settings and “viewer/editor” rights - Data stored on external servers must be addressed by internal GDPR policies |
| Asana | - Management of complex projects and deadlines - Clear task assignment features - Enables accountability - Enables integration with other tools |
- Mismanagement of access permissions may expose sensitive project data - Overdependence on digital task and indicator tracking may reduce human oversight - Data stored on external servers must be addressed by internal GDPR policies |
| Notion | - Centralised virtual workspace for documentation and collaboration - Content creation with integrated AI-powered tools - Highly customisable to accommodate data analysis and content development, according to different team needs |
- Uploading sensitive internal data into AI-supported systems raises confidentiality concerns - Risk of data being processed externally by AI software. Data stored on external servers must be addressed by internal GDPR policies |
| Figma | - Real-time collaboration for design and prototyping of new products - Enables easy collaboration between designers and developers - Enables flexible and remote teamwork |
- Exposure of intellectual property and design assets if access is not controlled - Dependence on cloud storage raises data security concerns. Data stored on external servers must be addressed by internal GDPR policies |
In general, regardless of which tools are used and by whom, it is recommended that users implement the following tips:
Assignment of appropriate access rights to folders saved on cloud-based platforms (viewer, editor, admin)
Application of the GDPR principle of Data Minimisation; only information that is strictly necessary for the task should be shared
Use of only platforms that are approved by the company leadership
All AI tools used should be authorised by the organisation's leadership and comply with internal GDPR and security policies
Recipients of online meeting links and invitations should be added to mailing lists carefully
Virtual meetings should be protected with passwords and waiting rooms, and participants should be verified before being granted access
Before recording meetings, facilitators must secure the explicit consent of all participants
All communication (even private chats) should be treated as auditable material
Confidential data should not be uploaded into AI-powered tools without approval from company leaders and the people concerned, as AI features may use external service providers to process data