Overview
Les Mills International partnered with Arinco to establish a secure and well-governed data foundation to support the responsible use of AI across its global organisation. As a fitness industry leader with a growing focus on digital platforms and workplace wellbeing, Les Mills International recognised the need to strengthen data security, governance and lifecycle management as part of its broader AI strategy. Arinco delivered an uplift using Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Advanced Management across approximately 2,000 SharePoint and Teams sites, supporting around 600 staff. The engagement helped ensure information remained protected, relevant and compliant, reducing information risk ahead of AI enablement. As a result, Les Mills International gained greater confidence to explore AI-enabled innovation while maintaining strong controls aligned to global standards.
About Les Mills International
Les Mills International is a global leader in group fitness and digital wellbeing solutions, founded in 1968 and headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. Its programs are licensed by more than 22,000 gyms and fitness centres across over 100 countries, delivering more than 6 million workouts each week through a global network of certified instructors, alongside digital experiences via LES MILLS+ and corporate wellbeing initiatives.
Business challenge
As a highly innovative organisation, Les Mills International continually explores new ways to enhance fitness experiences and support workplace wellbeing through digital platforms. With AI emerging as a key enabler for future innovation, the organisation identified the need to ensure its information environment was appropriately governed and secured before scaling AI use.
Operating at a global scale, Les Mills International needed to ensure data was protected, retained, and managed in line with regulatory and organisational requirements, while remaining accessible and useful for teams exploring new AI-driven capabilities. Without clear governance and lifecycle controls in place, there was a risk that AI tools could surface outdated, sensitive or irrelevant information.
Les Mills International aimed to establish a secure, future-ready foundation that would support responsible AI use as part of its broader technology and innovation strategy.
Solution
Arinco partnered with Les Mills to deliver a secure modern work uplift focused on strengthening data governance, security and information lifecycle management, with a specific emphasis on preparing the organisation for the safe adoption of AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot.
Defining data ownership beyond IT
A critical part of the engagement was helping Les Mills International drive an organisational shift in how data ownership is defined and managed. Through a series of workshops led by Arinco, teams across the business worked together to establish new data owners and governance responsibilities, moving beyond the traditional model where IT alone is accountable. This shift was underpinned by classification and compliance frameworks and supporting artefacts designed to be rolled out sustainably post-production.
Establishing clear governance guardrails with Microsoft Purview
Building on this foundation, Arinco delivered a broader Microsoft Purview implementation over approximately 12 weeks. This phase established clear guardrails around data classification using Sensitivity Labels and Auto-labelling. Customised Sensitive Information Types, based on how Les Mills International operates, were implemented alongside Data Loss Prevention and compliance policies, providing improved visibility and control over how information is handled across the Microsoft 365 environment. The solution supported alignment with global standards and internal policies, enabling responsible AI use regardless of the specific tools adopted over time.
Reducing information risk to enable safe AI adoption
The engagement was delivered through a series of targeted work packages, allowing Les Mills International to address immediate AI readiness requirements while also establishing longer-term governance capabilities. This phased approach ensured early reduction of information risk while laying the foundations for scalable, responsible AI use.
Following the Purview uplift, Arinco delivered a two-week “Copilot Technical Readiness” uplift, focused on reducing information risk within Microsoft 365. This included identifying and remediating overshared links across SharePoint and Teams, helping ensure that content surfaced through AI-enabled experiences would be appropriate, secure and aligned to organisational expectations.
Strengthening information lifecycle management
In parallel, Arinco and Les Mills International implemented SharePoint Advanced Management with Purview data assessments to improve how content is governed throughout its lifecycle. With approximately 2,000 SharePoint and Teams sites supporting around 600 staff, the uplift enabled clearer scoping, retention and relevance of information. This helped ensure that data surfaced through collaboration platforms and AI experiences remains current, appropriate and valuable. This was particularly important given that a significant portion of organisational data is stored in an external cloud storage platform, requiring a clear and well-defined governance approach across systems.
The engagement was delivered in close collaboration with Les Mills International’s infrastructure specialists, ensuring the solution aligned with existing platforms, operational practices and long-term objectives. Together, Arinco and Les Mills International focused on creating a scalable foundation that supports innovation without compromising security or governance.
Outcomes
The engagement delivered a strong foundation to support Les Mills International’s evolving use of AI and modern workplace tools.
Key outcomes included:
- Improved data governance: Established clear controls by enabling data classification within 365, and handling of data based on global GDPR and USA data protection policies for compliance using Microsoft Purview, strengthening oversight across the information environment. This Governance layer aligns with how data is managed across multiple platforms.
- Stronger information lifecycle management: Applied SharePoint Advanced Management across approximately 2,000 SharePoint and Teams sites, supporting clearer sharing scoping, retention and relevance of content for around 600 staff, reducing content sprawl and reliance on manual clean-up.
- Reduced information risk ahead of AI enablement: Identified and remediated overshared SharePoint and Teams links during a dedicated two-week Copilot technical readiness phase, lowering the risk of sensitive or outdated information being surfaced through AI and collaboration tools.
- Accelerated AI readiness: Delivered a phased uplift, including a 12-week Microsoft Purview implementation followed by a two-week Copilot Technical Readiness engagement, enabling Les Mills International to progress AI initiatives with greater confidence and control.
- Confidence to explore AI use cases: Enabled teams to explore AI-powered tools with greater assurance that information surfaced is secure, governed and appropriate, regardless of whether future AI capabilities are delivered via Microsoft Copilot or alternative large language model platforms.
- Future-ready foundation: Created a scalable platform that supports ongoing innovation in digital fitness, workplace wellbeing and AI-enabled initiatives without compromising security or governance.
Together, these outcomes position Les Mills International to continue innovating while maintaining strong information security and governance practices.
