Purview 101: Microsoft’s ultimate data governance platform

In 2024, data rules the world. It is the most valuable asset a business has, with the ability to enhance operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive commercial success.

We’re creating more data than we ever have done. With each touchpoint, each transaction, more data is created and therefore needs cataloguing, storing, and managing. How on earth do we keep up with the 402 million terabytes of data that are created every day?

There’s someone we’d like you to meet…

What is Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is an all-in-one solution for data governance, security, risk and compliance, and enables data transformation that can fuel innovation. It helps organisations comprehensively manage their data assets, and is made up of a wide range of features that allow for the discovery, classification, and management of data across on-premises systems, multi-cloud environments, and Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms.

With Purview, businesses can ensure that their data is correctly governed, its quality is managed, risks are mitigated, and that generative AI applications meet industry and legal regulatory requirements.

What are the key components of Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is a collection of tools that cover seven different areas, all working together to provide a holistic approach to data governance, security and compliance.

Data Security

Purview provides a comprehensive range of data security solutions, including Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention, Information Barriers, Information Protection, Insider Risk Management, and Privileged Access Management. These tools are designed to identify and safeguard sensitive information, ensuring thorough data security throughout your organisation.

The AI Hub  is a new addition to Purview to help strengthen security when using generative AI. It tracks AI activity, prevents data loss and ensures compliance with best practice.

Data Governance

The platform features integrated data governance solutions that oversee data services across on-premises, multi-cloud, and SaaS environments – including Azure storage services, Power BI, SQL Server, Hive, Amazon S3, and others. Tools such as Microsoft Purview Data Catalogue, Data Estate Insights, Data Map, Data Policy, and Data Sharing empower organisations to effectively map, identify, manage, and secure their data.

Data Sharing and Policy

Purview facilitates secure data sharing both within and between organisations, while also allowing centralised management of data sharing relationships. The Data Policy app streamlines the management of data access across multiple sources, ensuring both security and compliance.

Data Insights

This is a vital tool for governance stakeholders, such as Chief Data Officers, with a comprehensive overview of the data estate, offering actionable insights into governance gaps, data usage, sensitivity and compliance. It features metrics, reporting, and visualisation tools to track and improve data governance policies, ensuring effective resource allocation and adherence to regulatory requirements.

Risk and Compliance

Microsoft Purview’s risk and compliance solutions help organisations manage compliance risks and meet regulatory requirements through a suite of tools, including Microsoft Purview Audit for tracking user activities, Communication Compliance for monitoring communications, Compliance Manager for assessing compliance posture, Data Lifecycle Management for handling data from creation to disposal, and eDiscovery for managing electronically stored information relevant to legal cases. These tools ensure secure, compliant data handling throughout the data lifecycle.

Data Catalogue

This is the central component of the Purview platforms. Effective data cataloguing allows users to discover and search for data assets across the business, accessing only the information they should be able to in line with a just-enough-access policy.

Data Map

This feature automates data discovery by scanning and classifying assets across your data estate, providing a holistic view of your data landscape. It serves as the foundation for data discovery and governance, facilitating easy and efficient management of enterprise data.

Additionally, Microsoft Purview Data Quality enables assessment and recommendations for improvement to data quality within business domains. It provides AI-driven insights to increase the reliability and confidence in the data found in the data catalogue, helping organisations to become AI ready.

By leveraging these seven capabilities, businesses can ensure their data is managed effectively, protected adequately, and utilised fully. Whether you are addressing regulatory compliance, improving data quality, or enabling secure data sharing, Microsoft Purview offers the tools and insights needed to transform your data governance strategy.

What are the benefits of Microsoft Purview?

We’ve covered what it does, but what effect does it have on your business?

Unified Data Governance

Microsoft Purview provides a centralised platform for managing data governance across the entire data estate. This unification simplifies the process of ensuring data quality, security, and compliance, eliminating data silos and reducing the complexities associated with managing disparate data sources.

Enhanced Data Discovery and Classification

With automated data discovery and classification, Purview helps organisations quickly identify sensitive data, understand its context, and apply appropriate policies. This capability is crucial for maintaining data security and ensuring compliance with regulations such as GDPR.

Improved Compliance and Risk Management

Purview’s compliance and risk management tools allow businesses to assess their compliance posture, identify potential risks, and take corrective actions. This proactive approach helps in avoiding regulatory fines and safeguarding the business’s reputation.

Increased Operational Efficiency

By providing a comprehensive view of the data estate, Purview enables more efficient data management and operations. Organisations can streamline their data workflows, reduce redundancy, and ensure that data is used effectively and securely.

Better Collaboration and Data Sharing

Purview facilitates better collaboration by making it easier for teams to discover and understand data. The data catalogue and business glossary ensure that everyone in the organisation speaks the same data language, fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and reaping the rewards that come with that.

Improved Data Reliability

Data quality management is critical to a high-performing business to ensure the data is reliable, accurate and useable for AI-driven insight and recommendations. Purview provides AI-powered data profiling and end to end visibility of the data quality to drive continuous improvement.

Data Security Protection

Protect data across clouds, apps and devices through classification, data controls, and data loss management whilst being able to utilise AI to identify sensitive information based on your parameters.

How Microsoft Purview can benefit your industry

Purview isn’t just a toy for your IT team to play with. It’s a platform that will impact your entire organisation, shaping the way data is managed and moved in your teams, departments and geographies. No matter what industry you operate within, there’s a Purview use case for you.

Finance

Businesses operating within the UK’s financial services industry must comply with regulations such as the UK Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, and GDPR. Microsoft Purview helps FSI firms automate data discovery, classification, and lineage tracking, ensuring that all regulatory requirements are met. This automation not only reduces the risk of non-compliance, but also minimises the effort required for compliance reporting.

Healthcare

With the NHS being the world’s largest publicly funded healthcare service, imagine the amount of patient data, research data, test result data… this list is endless. It’s no doubt that cybersecurity and privacy is at the forefront of their business decisions, and Purview allows healthcare providers to classify and protect patient data, ensuring compliance with GDPR and other healthcare regulations. By providing visibility into data access and usage, Purview helps prevent data breaches and ensures that patient information remains confidential, while still being able to use it to make critical decisions across the organisation.

Manufacturing

The UK manufacturing industry is among the strongest in the world, bringing in £224 billion to the UK economy each year. Its complex data ecosystem – with IoT data, supply chain information and customer insights – means its organisations stand to benefit hugely from Purview. The platform enables these companies to create a unified data governance framework, improving data quality and operational efficiency. With better data insights, manufacturers can optimise their production processes, reduce downtime, and enhance product quality.

Retail

Retailers rely on data to understand customer preferences, manage inventory, and optimise marketing strategies. ASOS, a leading global retailer, recently joined forces with Microsoft to utilise Azure and its AI capabilities to power its digital platforms and support new data-led and innovative workstreams. Purview’s data cataloguing and business glossary make it easier for retail businesses to discover and analyse data, driving data-driven decision-making. By ensuring data accuracy and consistency, Purview helps retailers enhance customer experiences and improve business outcomes.

Charity

While charities must comply with regulations such as GDPR, the Charity Governance Code, and the requirements set by the Charity Commission, they also rely heavily on their data to understand donor behaviour, optimise fundraising strategies, and measure the impact of their programs. Microsoft Purview plays a crucial code in helping charities manage these dual priorities, by automating key compliance tasks like data discovery, classification, and auditing, while ensuring that charities handle sensitive donor and beneficiary information securely and transparently. Automating these processes reduces the risk of data breaches and non-compliance, but also frees up valuable resources to focus on critical fundraising activities and strategy.

What next?

Whether you are in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, or retail, Microsoft Purview can help you navigate the complexities of data management and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. Embrace the power of Microsoft Purview and transform your data governance strategy today.

If you’re ready to take the next step, or you just want to learn more, you’re in the right place. One of Cloud Direct’s experts, Dr Victoria Holt, is the UK’s only Microsoft MVP for Purview and Data Governance. There is nobody in the country better to speak to.

Sound good? Get in touch.