As regulators’ expectations continue to evolve, staying abreast of the latest changes—and avoiding penalties—can feel like dodging asteroids in the legendary arcade game of the same name. Piecing together a robust data governance strategy can resemble a round of Tetris. And steering clear of audit risk can be like jumping and swerving to climb between levels in a classic platformer.
For many of today’s organizations, the quest to build a robust data protection and governance program is long, winding, and full of unexpected obstacles. Adopting the right strategy is key to getting ahead of the game, while engaging the right stakeholders will help you power up for success. Concentrating and simplifying your data governance toolset within a centralized platform can reduce costs and enhance visibility, while following time-tested best practices when implementing this platform will ensure you don’t run out of lives before the quest is complete.
In this series, we’ve brought together an array of blogs and webinars to help you build and implement winning data governance strategies. You’ll find insights into how to get the right players on your team (the internal stakeholders who matter most), how to answer the key questions that will guide your policy definitions, which technology solutions to choose, how to implement them successfully, and which add-ons and enhancements will make it possible for your team to get the most out of your implementation.
Microsoft customers looking to secure and govern their organizations’ entire data estate within one consolidated solution suite are in luck. Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive set of full-featured risk, compliance, and data protection capabilities—all in a single product family engineered for visibility, interoperability, and ease of use. If you’re a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO), Chief Data Officer (CDO) or risk management leader, and you’re on a mission to simplify operations and level up integrations, this can be a game changer! But implementing Purview can be a power move for anyone interested in mitigating data risks and making compliance easier.
We think of the quest to realize Purview’s full value as having three levels. On the first level, organizations build an effective data governance strategy. At the second, they leverage data discovery tools to understand their data estate, simplifying and centralizing visibility within a family of unified, natively integrated solutions. By the time they reach the third level, organizations will be ready to build a roadmap for Microsoft Purview success.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these levels.
We’re big believers that Microsoft Purview’s wide-ranging capabilities—which include data labeling, encryption, data loss prevention (DLP) and endpoint DLP—can help just about any organization improve its compliance posture and give stakeholders a better understanding of where their data lives and how it can best be safeguarded. With that said, we also believe that organizations should select tools only after they’ve developed a comprehensive data governance strategy. That is, we think that strategy should drive tool selection, not the other way around.
Data governance strategy development should begin with deep discussion of the how, what, and why of your data protection and compliance objectives. What do regulators require of your organization? What do customers, third-party partners, and other interested parties (such as members of the board and C-suite) expect? What typical stumbling blocks do organizations in your industry face when it comes to safeguarding information assets?
Next, your team will need to discover your sensitive data. Which data counts as “sensitive” will depend on the regulatory landscape in which you operate, as well as industry-specific risks. If the compromise, leakage, or unauthorized disclosure of a piece of information would cause significant harm to your organization, that information should be considered sensitive data. Such sensitive data may reside on premises, in the cloud, or within Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) app ecosystems. Finding it—and documenting those findings within a Unified Data Map—is essential for designing effective data protection policies, and then implementing them in the real world.
Engaging the right stakeholders—including data analysts, business leaders, and people responsible for compliance and risk management—is essential for leveling up your data governance strategy.
Choosing a consolidated solution set like Microsoft Purview can help your team save time, money, and effort by bringing together all the tools you need to support your data governance strategy in one place.
Purview’s comprehensive capabilities include the following:And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Purview’s built-in data discovery tools can help you build a data governance strategy that’s tailored to your organization’s unique needs. Its powerful integrations make it possible to extend its visibility across your entire data estate, while leveraging automation to mitigate a broad array of risks and minimize the potential impact of any data security incidents that might occur. Purview also natively interoperates with Microsoft Copilot 365, making it possible to harness the power of generative AI within realm of your data governance and compliance program.
Following a well-defined, best practices-driven implementation strategy can ensure that your Purview deployment proceeds smoothly and begins delivering value as soon as possible.
Because its capabilities are so far-reaching and comprehensive, Microsoft Purview can be complicated to implement and manage. By purchasing the right number of licenses, and understanding how to maximize their utilization, you’ll be able to optimize the total cost of ownership (TCO) for Microsoft Purview. The better you know your way around Microsoft Purview’s included components, the better you can make decisions about how to use them—and what it takes to make the most of your deployment.
If passing all of these levels sounds like it’ll be a tough challenge, don’t worry. Here at Netrix, we’ve got all the extra points you’ll need to set yourself up for success. You can learn more about powering up with Purview and venture deeper into each of these levels by watching a corresponding webinar.
Level One, Building Your Data Governance Strategy to Win, will air on January 18, 2024, or be available for on-demand viewing anytime afterwards.
Level Two, Centralize and Simplify Your Data Governance Strategy with Purview, will air on January 25, 2024, or be available for on-demand viewing anytime afterwards.
And Level Three, Defining a Roadmap for Purview Success, will air on February 1, 2024, or be available for on-demand viewing anytime afterwards.
Want to learn more? Get in touch with us today.
