Microsoft unifies large-scale data management under Purview framework

Most of Microsoft’s major data management solutions are being unified under the company’s “Purview” branding, bringing together the functionality of Azure Purview and Microsoft 365 compliance to create a single framework for data governance and risk management.

A host of individual products are being renamed to reflect the new unification, mostly on the Microsoft 365 side of the house, to fit in with the new “Microsoft Purview” branding. The idea is to make it easier for companies with multicloud and multiplatform environments to implement data governance technology.

Nor is the effort a simple reorganization and rebranding. Microsoft also announced Wednesday that its data-loss protection technology for MacOS endpoints is now generally available, as well as the addition of more than 50 new classifiers for its sensitive information type catalogs. Additionally, the company added a public preview of its multistage retention feature for what’s now called Microsoft Purview Lifecycle Management, formerly Microsoft Information Governance.

In addition, Microsoft announced preview versions of two other features, namely the ability to co-author encrypted documents from mobile devices running iOS or Android, as well as restricted app groupings for Windows endpoints, letting organizations specify which applications are allowed to access which pieces of data in a more granular way.

The company also rolled out new features for the risk management and legal side of the C-suite, including enhanced detection and investigation upgrades for its Insider Risk Management functionality, an improved ability to identify relevant Teams data via its eDiscovery suite, and new abilities for its Communication Compliance offering. That system can now detect code of conduct violations and sensitive information sharing via improved optical character recognition, machine learning, and do it faster into the bargain, thanks to sped-up detection times.

According to a blog post from Microsoft general manager of compliance and privacy marketing Alym Rayani, the reorganization and these new features are a reaction both to the increasingly complex nature of data governance architectures and to the new challenges posed by the current data protection environment. Fast-evolving regulations, pandemic-based concerns and remote work all severely complicate the challenges facing executives tasked with the protection of a large organization’s data.

“The market has responded with dozens of products that force security, data governance, compliance, and legal teams to stitch together a patchwork of solutions,” Rayani said. “This approach not only strains resources, but it’s also ineffective. Security outcomes are worse — audits are failed and brand reputations are damaged.”