As a Microsoft partner, we specialize in selling Microsoft products to our clients. Microsoft Purview serves as a typical data cataloging tool within our data governance projects.
Data Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Robust data cataloging and governance, yet its rebranding and integration changes may cause initial confusion among users
Pros and Cons
- "It is designed to seamlessly connect to various data sources, which is particularly beneficial for our customers who primarily use Microsoft technologies."
- "Data quality has been a highly requested feature among customers."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Purview offers comprehensive data protection capabilities across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments, including AWS and Google Cloud Platform. When discussing data protection, it's essential to recognize the different facets of Purview solutions. Firstly, there's the data catalog side, which focuses on organizing and managing data assets. Secondly, there's the risk and compliance aspect, which encompasses solutions like data loss prevention, insider risk management, and information protection for data security. Additionally, there are risk and compliance management features such as data lifecycle management, e-discovery, audits, and communication compliance. Microsoft Purview has been working towards integrating these three aspects—data security, data governance, and risk and compliance—into a unified interface which would provide a seamless experience for users to manage all aspects of data protection efficiently.
The ability for Purview to connect with iOS, Mac, and Android devices, as well as data from various SaaS applications, is of utmost importance. Customers prioritize this capability because they aim to safeguard their data regardless of its location—whether on mobile devices, in the cloud, or on computers.
It serves as a connection platform that supports the integration of data from non-Microsoft sources. While its capabilities for connecting with non-Microsoft data sources are continuously improving, there are still some limitations. Presently, Purview can connect with other cloud vendors such as Google Cloud, Amazon, and IBM.
Ensuring native integration of compliance across Azure, Dynamics, and Office 365 is a top priority for Purview. The aim is to consolidate all compliance functionalities into a unified interface, although currently, they remain separate. The ultimate goal is to streamline compliance processes by centralizing them within a single portal.
We use Purview for data loss prevention.
It hasn't yet streamlined the integration of solutions we interact with, as they remain separate. However, once the unification of data governance, data security, and risk compliance functionalities into one portal is fully implemented, it will likely reduce the need for multiple interactions. Currently, we're still navigating through different interfaces and portals to achieve our goals. So, as of now, the solutions remain separate, but there's potential for improvement in the future.
Purview has enhanced our visibility into our data estate, especially through the democratization of data via the data catalog. By surfacing our data assets and making them accessible throughout the organization, we've achieved better visibility overall. However, it's crucial to note that successful data governance requires more than just technology—it also involves having the right teams, processes, and policies in place. Therefore, by ensuring that all three components of data governance are aligned and well-managed, leveraging Purview's data catalog can significantly improve visibility into our assets.
There are AI components utilized for classification purposes, particularly in identifying names, such as people's first names and locations like cities. Additionally, there's deeper integration with MDM partners like Profisee and Tamr, who leverage Azure OpenAI for this purpose. However, even without these third-party vendors, within the data catalog or data map, classification relies on machine learning to identify and surface sensitive information effectively. AI has a significant impact on the quality of insights in Purview. It automatically classifies sensitive assets during scanning, which effectively reduces manual effort and ensures thorough coverage of sensitive information within the data catalog.
The ability to demonstrate compliance in real-time is facilitated by a dedicated solution known as Compliance Manager. This specific Purview solution falls under the category of risk and compliance, providing the necessary tools to showcase compliance status effectively.
Purview, particularly the Compliance Manager, has assisted us in enhancing compliance with regulatory requirements. With Purview Compliance Manager, it identifies areas where compliance may be lacking and provides actionable steps to achieve compliance. This tool facilitates easier discussions with compliance stakeholders and ensures alignment on necessary actions.
It has contributed to reducing the time required to address insider threats through its integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. This integration includes a specific feature known as Insider Risk Management, which enables proactive detection of and alerts for suspicious or malicious activities.
It has helped save both time and money. One particular feature is called Data Sharing. Its primary aim is to minimize data duplication. This feature allows users to share data internally and externally without physically moving the data itself. Instead of creating additional copies of data as attachments or sending them via email, users can share data directly from its existing location. This reduces the need for storing multiple copies of the same data, ultimately saving storage space and associated costs.
It has enhanced our ability to maintain compliance by integrating Purview with Microsoft Sentinel. This integration enables the creation and sending of alerts, allowing us to proactively address sensitive information as it enters our data catalog.
What is most valuable?
It is designed to seamlessly connect to various data sources, which is particularly beneficial for our customers who primarily use Microsoft technologies. These sources include Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Synapse Workspace, and other platforms that Purview natively supports. Data cataloging is a fundamental feature of Purview, allowing users to organize and manage their data assets effectively. It also offers powerful lineage capabilities, enabling users to trace data from its source systems to the reporting layer. While there are some limitations in supporting end-to-end lineage for certain assets, Purview excels in automating lineage for supported assets such as Azure Data Factory and Synapse pipelines. Another valuable feature of Purview is its glossary terms functionality. Recently, we completed a project for a customer who was migrating their data dictionary from SharePoint to Purview's data catalog. This migration allowed them to seamlessly connect glossary terms to their ingested data assets, enhancing their data management and governance capabilities significantly.
What needs improvement?
Data quality has been a highly requested feature among customers. While it was initially scheduled for release in December last year, I anticipate that this feature will be available soon this year.
I suppose that with the integration of all three solutions—data security, data governance, and risk and compliance—there will be a clearer direction regarding changes on the people side of things. Like any other changes, this integration will necessitate new responsibilities, processes, and policies. It's essential to outline the expected changes on the people side, such as identifying impacted personas and defining their new responsibilities.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Purview Data Governance
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Purview Data Governance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've encountered some slight lag, although Microsoft boasts a 99.9% SLA guaranteeing availability. This means there's an estimated downtime of around eight hours per year, but overall, disruptions are minimal.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability has become more streamlined with recent updates. Previously, selecting a data map capacity was necessary when creating the data catalog, but now scalability has been improved. This means reduced overhead and eliminates the need for manual adjustment, making it easier to manage.
How are customer service and support?
I've reached out to tech support numerous times. Interacting with them is always a positive experience because they consistently offer prompt assistance and valuable insights. It's particularly beneficial when dealing with new features or issues that many clients may not have encountered yet. They consistently deliver the assistance I need promptly and effectively. In cases where immediate answers are not available, I escalate the issue until I connect with the right individuals who can provide the necessary assistance. I would rate it ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before transitioning to Purview, I was using the older version, which was Data Catalog.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Purview is straightforward, requiring just a few clicks to create an Azure account on the Purview portal. However, the complexity arises in setting it up properly, especially considering the Cloud Adoption Framework and the Analytics framework. While the setup can initially be simple, achieving scalability requires certain skills and responsibilities within the organization to ensure it's done properly. Scaling the architecture involves creating new data landing zones or subscriptions for different data workloads, such as Azure Machine Learning Workspace for data science teams while maintaining organizational governance and best practices. We are the ones responsible for assisting people in implementing Purview.
What about the implementation team?
Typically, it requires at least two individuals from our team to deploy Purview, though sometimes up to three, depending on their skill sets. One essential role is a data governance lead responsible for overseeing tasks related to the data catalog, such as setting up the collection hierarchy and defining data domains. On the Azure infrastructure side, either a versatile solution architect or an Azure architect is needed to define the data management landing zone and data landing zone. This individual may also take on the role of a DevOps engineer to manage CI/CD processes for resource deployment and integration. Additionally, a data engineer is required to facilitate the movement of data assets from sources to the data warehouse. Lastly, a fabric administrator assists with necessary tenant settings. However, at a minimum, a solution architect and a data governance lead are essential, with the solution architect often taking on multiple roles.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment involves significant effort initially, but as organizations mature in their data governance practices, they begin to reap the benefits. These benefits include improved data quality, enhanced visibility of data assets, and increased compliance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Currently, the licensing differs for the governance side compared to the risk and compliance side. On the governance side, the charges are based on the usage of Purview, including the data map, data catalog, and scanning and classification jobs. However, on the risk and compliance side, it's based on licensing, specifically the E5 license, to access the risk and security compliance features. As of now, the pricing structures remain separate. Improvements in providing clearer information on any pricing changes as these three solutions are unified would be beneficial.
What other advice do I have?
The data quality is a top priority for clients and customers, and while it's expected to be available soon, there are a couple of reasons why there's a slight drawback. Firstly, the rebranding and renaming have confused customers. Although the move towards unifying everything into a single portal is a positive step, it has led to some customer confusion. Providing clearer guidance and communication about these changes and their associated responsibilities will be essential moving forward. Additionally, recent changes in features, such as the replacement of classification with sensitive information types in Compliance Manager, have shifted certain responsibilities from data governance leads to compliance or security teams. While this change impacts customers already using classification rules, it signifies a broader shift in responsibilities. Furthermore, the integration of Purview into Fabric is another aspect that requires better communication, likely due to upcoming changes and features. It's expected that after the unification of tools and features in the unified portal, there will be more emphasis on Fabric integration. Currently, details about this integration have been limited, but this is likely to change with upcoming releases. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner Reseller Integrator
Dex engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sensitivity labeling enables us to automate encryption and ensure proper data handling across the organization
Pros and Cons
- "The sensitivity labeling is the most valuable feature because it is the foundation for automating the encryption process and ensuring proper data handling across the organization."
- "The sensitivity labeling is the most valuable feature because it is the foundation for automating the encryption process and ensuring proper data handling across the organization."
- "We haven't really gotten too far into it to identify areas for improvement just yet."
What is our primary use case?
We are labeling our documents, and based on those labels, encryption is applied depending on how sensitive the data is. Documents that leave our organization are automatically encrypted.
We plan to use Purview for data loss protection, but we aren't there yet. That's the next phase of our rollout. We're setting up governance, identification, and classification before moving to DLP. We have started some pilot groups within Teams to test how it will block PHI personal health information that's transmitted via text or voice in a transcript. We've seen some success, but it also blocks a lot of things that it shouldn't. It's a matter of fine-tuning.
How has it helped my organization?
We're going to have the benefit of being able to roll out Copilot more securely, but we're not there quite yet.
What is most valuable?
The sensitivity labeling is the most valuable feature because it is the foundation for automating the encryption process and ensuring proper data handling across the organization.
It is helpful that Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices because you need to be able to govern the ecosystem no matter where your data is. Purview's consideration of critical regulations from around the world is crucial because we operate globally, so we need to adjust how data is handled for our employees in other countries.
What needs improvement?
We haven't really gotten too far into it to identify areas for improvement just yet.
For how long have I used the solution?
We haven't been using it for long. We are currently in the pilot phase, gradually rolling it out. We've been building the policies, and the rollout to a pilot group started three weeks ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I couldn't really say about the stability so far, but I have confidence in it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's definitely scalable. With automation, you can label five documents or 50,000 with the same amount of clicks. It handles all the data you can throw at it.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft customer service 10 out of 10. Support is a little slow, but it's very beneficial. They're skillful people who know what they're doing in their space. Some unforeseen speed bumps along the way have slowed things down. It's nor something that I would be mad about, but I wish the project would be done by now so we could get our Copilots all rolled up.
We have a good rapport with them and get along well. We can candidly talk to them about things and ask for help. They're always happy to do what they need to to get the answers we need.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used some built-in legacy permissions and tools for file management, along with Excel's advanced features, which are now part of Microsoft Purview.
How was the initial setup?
It's been a slow process. We're taking our time and working with a partner. It's been slow, but this is one of those cases where that's necessary.
What about the implementation team?
We worked with a consultant named Lighthouse. They've been very beneficial, skillful, and know their field well. Despite some unforeseen speed bumps slowing the project, their expertise has been valuable.
What was our ROI?
We're working with a Microsoft partner to carefully create labels and test all the features and policies behind the labels. We rolled it out to our first pilot group. We have a test SharePoint site that we're using alongside that. Once we have more data and and feedback from the pilot group, we'll expand that company-wide.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was smooth, as most Purview functionalities were included in the e5 licenses we migrated to for other reasons.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate any other solutions as we were acquiring an E5 license, which integrated Purview features without the need for exploring alternatives.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Purview Data Governance eight out of 10. Once you start using it and see what it can do, it's really intuitive.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Purview Data Governance
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Purview Data Governance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Security consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
We can use the MIP feature without the need for extra plugins, and we get good visibility, but the reporting functionality has room for improvement
Pros and Cons
- "MIP also provides strong information rights management settings, such as the ability to specify who has access to content and at what time."
- "While Purview's data connector platform can ingest information from non-Microsoft data sources, it is slow to do so and the information may become outdated."
What is our primary use case?
I am a system integrator for Microsoft Purview. I have assessed some customers who already have Microsoft Purview because of their E5 license. However, they are not aware of Purview's capabilities. Purview is a relatively new product that provides an end-to-end data security lifecycle solution. It allows us to review our data with a data governance solution, classify it, protect it, and prevent data breaches. I have worked on almost all aspects of Purview.
We have assessed some customers and provided them with use cases such as using Purview to protect confidential data recovery. This allows them to manage their own workflow for vendors on a contractual basis. We have multiple use cases for Purview.
How has it helped my organization?
Purview's natively integrated compliance across Azure Dynamics and Office 365 is important. Microsoft has the advantage of being able to connect other solutions in its suite more easily, and this makes Purview a very good choice. With the exception of OCR in Teams, Purview works very smoothly. If we want to protect something in an email, Purview will prompt us immediately if we have configured it to do so. This is very convenient, and Purview does not use more system resources than expected. Another advantage of using Purview is that it is Microsoft's own product, so Microsoft can customize it to its own needs and ensure that it does not impact system performance.
It is important that Purview was built taking into account critical regulations from around the world. Purview is important because businesses are increasingly operating globally, and data is moving between different regions and countries. Purview is up to date with respect to different regional, national, and state privacy laws. I have found Purview to be a great solution, but it is not yet operating as well as it could. Microsoft is working hard to address this issue, and they are publishing new privacy acts to Purview on a regular basis.
How we use Purview data loss protection to educate users on how to handle sensitive data is we deploy Purview in the organization, categorize the data by region or department, perform data flow analysis to understand how the data is used and shared, classify the data as low, medium, or high risk based on the daily digital annual loss, We protect the data using Microsoft DLP, We publish videos on SharePoint to educate users about data classification and labeling, and we enable users to self-educate by providing them with access to documentation and training resources.
Purview is valuable because it is the only end-to-end data lifecycle management solution that provides data governance, classification, and protection.
Purview helps to reduce the number of solutions we need to interact with.
The reduction of the number of solutions we now need to interact with has simplified our data governance.
I am satisfied with the visibility that Purview provides. Even without configuring anything, we can see many insights, but we do not get the exact details unless we configure Purview accordingly.
It provides a real-time compliance score for all our devices connected with Identity Access Management and Defender.
Purview helps us save time by publishing the policies quickly and collecting information in real time.
Purview helps us stay compliant. I have not encountered another solution that provides end-to-end licensing.
What is most valuable?
One of the valuable features of Microsoft Purview Information Protection, formerly known as Azure Information Protection or Microsoft Information Protection is data classification and data governance. MIP provides a unified labeling client that allows users to apply sensitivity labels to documents and emails in Microsoft Office files without the need for extra plugins or agents. MIP also provides strong information rights management settings, such as the ability to specify who has access to content and at what time.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Purview's ability to deliver data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments is important, but there are some limitations. For example, if we have our own cloud solution, Purview cannot currently protect it. However, we can integrate Purview with other OEMs, such as Forcepoint, McAfee, or Symantec, to provide DLP functionality for our CASB. Additionally, Purview cannot protect cloud platforms that are part of a shared domain, such as our own website, unless they are part of the public domain. Purview needs to add DLP support.
One of the things I would like to recommend is that Purview doesn't have the option to push policies or updates in real-time. Instead, it is based on the last five-bit communication. We cannot make any changes to this. It is based on the device when it is communicating with the server. If I want to do this forcefully from the server, if I want to send a wake-up call to all or selected agents throughout the organization, Purview does not have this capability in the GUI.
The reporting functionality needs to be improved. I have found that the solution is not satisfactory for reporting. We have to use Power BI to generate the overall profit, but this requires a lot of configuration. In another solution, we can easily achieve the same reporting functionality.
Purview does not have OCR functionality or network web. Therefore, OCR functionality is not included. OCR is available for Teams, but it does not work as expected. For example, it does not work well for systems that deliver to the recipient database, which could cause problems if it does not match our rules.
Purview has limitations connecting to Android devices and SaaS devices.
While Purview's data connector platform can ingest information from non-Microsoft data sources, it is slow to do so and the information may become outdated.
I would rate Purview's data loss prevention for remediating violations a six out of ten. The reason is that Purview does not have an option for endpoint discarding. In contrast, Forcepoint and Trellix are more mature DLP solutions that offer endpoint discarding. This allows us to scan endpoints for sensitive data, take a replica of that data, and store it in a safe location. We can also encrypt the data on the endpoint. Microsoft Purview DLP does not offer this functionality. It is only available for Teams and email.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Some features of Purview are stable, while others are not. MIP is very stable. DLP is constantly being updated, so some of its options may be unstable. The only stable portion of DLP is the database checking management.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Purview is in the cloud, so it is scalable. However, Microsoft sometimes makes it confusing by adding add-on features that we are forced to add and which will cost us to move. For example, there are options for endpoints four and six, but to use these, we have to add block storage, which will cost more. We should only have the option to configure everything in one console. This is because humans sometimes need to go to the Azure team and ask for access if they do not have Azure. Alternatively, the Azure admin team has to do this on their behalf. This is something that Microsoft can think about.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is the worst. When we were raising the case, the support was literally asking us how to resolve the issue. So I was really confused about what kind of support this was. We were seeking support, and apparently so were they. One of the customer support people had just provided us with dates but was not working on resolving the issue. I don't know why.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also used McAfee, Symantec, and Forcepoint for our data security. These solutions all offer endpoint discarding, which Purview does not. This gives us the option to replicate and save a copy in another place. Endpoint discarding is granular, and we can save reports in real time and connect to endpoints in real-time. We can also bypass the endpoint, which we cannot do with Purview. McAfee does not have to be built in, while Symantec does.
The pros of Purview are utilization and performance. It is a lightweight solution that does not impact system utilization. This is important. Microsoft is a one-stop shop for data classification and DLP, so we may not need to worry about integrating with different vendors. We have MIP, and then DLP if we have exposure from DLP. Of course, it is possible to integrate with the help of APIs, but there is a risk that Microsoft may decide not to integrate with Forcepoint or Symantec in the future. This is something customers should think about. In that case, for customers with an E5 license, Purview would be the best choice because they can utilize all the Microsoft products and save costs. This strategy will also improve their security posture.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. Just plug in our internet credentials. That's it! No need to worry about the server, its utilization, configuration, or architecture. It's very easy to use, and we don't have to worry about disaster recovery or data centers. In a way, it's really helpful and cost-effective. Microsoft is taking care of everything on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The number of people required for deployment depends on the number of end users and departments. For example, an organization with 15,000 end users, 40 departments, and some generic requirements can deploy the solution using one L3, one L2, and two L1 people.
What was our ROI?
The fact that our organization continues to use Purview indicates that it provides some sort of return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay $15,000 per end user for the E5 license.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview seven out of ten.
According to Gartner, Microsoft DLP is one of the top ten DLP solutions, but the top three are Trellix, Symantec, and Forcepoint. I prefer Forcepoint.
The maintenance is easy to complete.
I highly recommend that an organization use an E5 license if they are going with Microsoft because this will give them everything they need, including technical management, governance, and data management.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
IT security analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Helps protect data across multi-platform environments, connects to a wide range of devices, and helps us stay compliant
Pros and Cons
- "The custom classifications are one of the most valuable features."
- "The custom data classification for the African region needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Purview for DLP capabilities and email encryption.
How has it helped my organization?
Ensuring data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments through Purview is crucial for us. Currently operating on Azure and AWS, we plan to migrate a portion of our on-premises workloads to the cloud. To achieve this, we will leverage Purview for data loss prevention on our virtual machines and utilize Azure Arc for centralized management of all our platforms.
Purview's ability to connect to a wide range of devices, including iOS, Android, and others, enhances our visibility into BYOD devices deployed across our environments.
As a public organization, we are bound by policies and regulations. To ensure compliance across Azure Dynamics 365 and Office 365, both locally and internationally, we leverage the native compliance capabilities of Purview, which integrates seamlessly with both platforms.
The DLP for remediating policy violations works well. We can easily view the details and conduct investigations from a single dashboard.
We recently started using Purview for DLP on Mac OS devices.
Implementing Purview as our primary data loss prevention solution has yielded significant benefits. Our Microsoft E5 license provides enhanced protection across the organization, offering immense value through its comprehensive features. Consequently, we have been able to streamline our security posture by consolidating third-party solutions and focusing on Purview and other robust Microsoft applications.
Microsoft Purview has streamlined our workflow by consolidating diverse systems into a single, user-friendly dashboard. This one-stop shop simplifies access and management across our organization.
Microsoft Purview enables us to show our compliance in real-time. We are satisfied with the speed at which Purview provides alerts and details to us.
Microsoft Purview has significantly shortened the response time to insider threats by almost 70 percent. It can rapidly block unauthorized user access, leading to a reduction in required manpower.
Microsoft Purview has helped to save money by preventing the loss of data in our environment as well as around 60 percent of our admin user's time.
Purview helps us stay on top of compliance. We no longer have to review incidents manually, improving compliance by 80 percent.
What is most valuable?
The custom classifications are one of the most valuable features. For instance, if we want to block the transfer of card details, there are many pre-built samples for different countries that we can easily use in Purview, eliminating the need to create our classifications which makes the work easier.
What needs improvement?
Purview needs to improve its DLP capabilities for removable devices such as external drives and USB devices.
The custom data classification for the African region needs to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview has been stable, with no incidents involving the Data Loss Prevention functionality. However, there have been a few instances where the admin portal has been unavailable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview is extremely scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The support response time can be improved.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are currently using Forcepoint and Microsoft Purview, but with our E5 license, we're considering consolidating our security products under one umbrella and one dashboard, potentially phasing out Forcepoint.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment took a few hours. Five to six people were involved in the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate the cost of Microsoft Purview a six out of ten with ten being the most expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview an eight out of ten.
We have a complex group-wide tenant that requires us to have different administrative units for each country. We have around 50,000 users worldwide.
Purview does not require any maintenance beyond regular checks in the admin portal to ensure everything is functioning correctly.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Safeguards sensitive and confidential data, but frequent updates can make navigating the UI unpredictable
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Purview's primary benefit lies in safeguarding sensitive and confidential data, thereby mitigating the risk of internal data exfiltration."
- "Frequent daily updates from Microsoft can cause interface elements like buttons to appear and disappear, making navigation unpredictable."
What is our primary use case?
We have implemented Microsoft Purview as a comprehensive DLP solution for our clients across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to protect their data and help them classify, identify, and investigate who and how the data is being accessed.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft is aiming to build favorable relationships with other cloud solution providers. On our end, if we have both AWS solutions and Microsoft's cloud solution, implementing the Microsoft Purview dashboard can be a good way to collect and classify our data across both platforms. This could be a strong selling point for Microsoft to explore partnerships with AWS and other public cloud players, allowing them to combine and leverage their global development, sales, and services.
Implementing Purview's integrated compliance across Azure Dynamics 365 and Office 365 is relatively straightforward thanks to available connectors and Microsoft's improved user interface.
Microsoft Purview includes a compliance manager, which simplifies meeting various standards and regulations through integration with companies like ISO, ISCE, and other risk solutions. This feature is an add-on for E5 and E3 licenses. It allows us to create assessments that generate reports with specific recommendations for implementing and configuring ISO 27001 or other standards within our Microsoft 365 environment. This makes compliance significantly easier and, according to Microsoft, can reduce the cost of implementing such measures by approximately 40 percent compared to using other solutions for ISO compliance or other critical regulations.
Given my role as a cybersecurity consultant, I previously created a DLP policy based on the client's needs. Since then, I haven't had further contact with the client. However, I'm now working on a new project for them next year. This project involves developing and implementing a DLP solution with a focus on information protection. My responsibilities include monitoring all user activity and reporting on it in a few months. Based on my observations, there's a significant amount of activity requiring governance. This includes areas like DLP policy enforcement, USB blocking, printer control, copy prevention, file transfer via secure FTP, and external user access restrictions. Purview's data loss protection is helpful for remediating policy violations.
I'm developing a short training guide, about four pages or more, on enabling information protection labeling and related topics. Some clients have suggested automation, but I believe the best approach is to guide users through manual labeling. For instance, we could have a "Sensitive" label for data like personal information, ID numbers, passports, names, passwords, and so on. Information protection can be implemented either by defining detection rules beforehand or by using the system's automated detection capabilities. If sensitive information is detected, the system can then recommend applying the "Non-Confidential" label or whichever equivalent label we prefer.
Microsoft has developed and launched Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for Mac. This agent for macOS is the same agent used for data loss prevention in Endpoint. However, if we don't require DLP for Endpoint, we can simply synchronize our Macs with Microsoft Intune. Intune, a combination of Microsoft Entra ID and an MDM solution, is not just for mobile devices; it's a device management platform for all company devices, including PCs, Macs, mobile devices, and servers. It allows us to synchronize settings and policies across all our devices, manage software deployments, and utilize various other features. Therefore, we have two options: either synchronize our Macs with Intune or install the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent to implement DLP for Endpoint. DLP for Endpoint is mandatory if we need to detect and control USB devices, printers, and other data transfer peripherals.
Microsoft Purview's primary benefit lies in safeguarding sensitive and confidential data, thereby mitigating the risk of internal data exfiltration.
Purview does help our customers reduce the number of solutions they interact with. From a cybersecurity engineer and information security expert perspective, consolidating and streamlining technology can be beneficial for IT departments, especially before implementation. Currently, Security Service Edge emerges as a promising solution due to its integration with zero-trust principles and protocols. For example, instead of deploying multiple endpoint detection and response solutions, a single, antivirus-free EDR like CrowdStrike can suffice. Similarly, Microsoft's Defender for Cloud Apps, combined with XDR and other security features, offers a comprehensive solution for Security Operations Centers. My goal is to create a unified MDR solution for clients, allowing for centralized data collection and log analysis. This unified platform, ideally with one or two dashboards, would enable efficient investigation and response, minimizing investigation time and cost. Combining various tools into one interface eliminates the need to jump between dashboards, improving analyst efficiency. Why rely on multiple vendors like CrowdStrike, Proofpoint, Minetest, and MISSP when a single solution can offer comprehensive visibility and data security? Microsoft's Image Security 365, coupled with best practices and anti-phishing strategies, can significantly enhance security. Furthermore, I recommend implementing a DMZ with two firewalls, one internal and one external. This layered security approach, while requiring two vendors, provides redundancy and prevents attackers from exploiting a single firewall and gaining access to the network. However, it's important to remember that cybersecurity solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Each client and scenario requires tailored strategies based on their unique needs and context. Consistency across the industry is crucial, but it's important to acknowledge the lack of standardized approaches in the current landscape.
The Microsoft Purview dashboard is primarily a data security solution, allowing us to implement various layers to safeguard our information. While it can be used for some Endpoint Detection and Response functionalities, its full potential in this area might not be realized without proper configuration and understanding of the underlying processes.
While Purview offers real-time compliance monitoring, it's an add-on feature functioning as a compliance manager. However, due to a lack of clear communication, not all companies fully understand its capabilities. Additionally, it's important to note that while compliance and standards often relate heavily to financial and banking sectors, the scope of regulations has broadened significantly in recent years, extending beyond these specific industries.
Purview helps us stay on top of compliance because Microsoft has tried to build Purview based on the ISC framework.
What is most valuable?
No single feature stands out as the best because the most effective approach involves combining multiple features. For example, when using information protection, labeling, and classification, a multi-step process is necessary. First, we must classify our data, which requires a thorough understanding of our environment and the nature of the data itself. Once classified, we can apply labels and establish rules governing data sharing through information protection measures. The final step involves implementing and configuring a Data Loss Prevention solution. It's crucial to remember that the goal isn't to find ideal individual features; rather, it's to leverage the synergy of multiple technologies to create a comprehensive and powerful data protection strategy.
What needs improvement?
I've been working closely with Microsoft support on issues with the Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner's on-premises services. While it's a solid tool, there's still room for improvement in my opinion. I've submitted numerous recommendations, from solutions to address specific problems to the implementation of new features like bulk scanning across multiple servers, not just individual paths. I've also encountered a high number of false positives in the classifier and made suggestions for resolving them. Microsoft support is currently reviewing my input, and we're collaborating to refine the scanner and minimize false positives. It's important to remember that this is a new technology, and like any newborn business venture, it's prone to growing pains. Errors and mistakes are inevitable along the way, but they're also valuable learning opportunities.
Frequent daily updates from Microsoft can cause interface elements like buttons to appear and disappear, making navigation unpredictable. Additionally, Microsoft also generates new licenses that require investigation to identify each new license.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for one and a half years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Sometimes we have a communication gap or delay but most of the time the technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
One person can deploy Microsoft Purview.
What about the implementation team?
We implement Purview for our clients.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are a Microsoft Gold Partner and are currently satisfied with our existing solutions. Therefore, we do not prioritize evaluating other vendors at this time.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview a seven out of ten. Purview is a good solution but it takes time to master.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Microsoft Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent
Pros and Cons
- "Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods."
- "Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people."
What is our primary use case?
My organization had a large amount of sensitive data stored primarily in SharePoint Online. We also operate in a highly regulated industry. Therefore, we wanted to take advantage of some of the features offered by Microsoft Purview. Initially, we focused on sensitivity and retention labels, but we later expanded to include data loss prevention and benchmarking our data against the built-in regulations offered by Purview.
How has it helped my organization?
It is important that Purview delivers data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments. Many organizations have multiple systems, which can be difficult to manage. I know that many of my clients are currently trying to amalgamate their systems and bring them all under one umbrella, but there will always be cases where organizations will not be able to have everything in a single software solution like Microsoft 365. Being able to take advantage of Purview's excellent features and deploy them across not only 365 but also other systems makes it much easier. I think this is one of the reasons why organizations are starting to look at things like Purview: it has the ability to deploy more widely, saving organizations a lot of time and effort and centralizing control.
It is important that Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices, as well as other data and SaaS apps. Many organizations issue portable devices to their staff, especially those with a high percentage of hybrid remote workers. These mobile devices have become essential, both personally and professionally. Having governance across multiple devices is a brilliant feature.
Purview's integrated data link compliance is a great feature. The biggest selling point for me is the ability to deploy it from one location; I haven't been able to manage everything in one place before. This makes it much easier for local administrators, and it can also be used across different environments.
The connectors for supporting non-Microsoft data sources are a brilliant feature and a smart move by Microsoft. They allow us to apply our governance policies to data sources such as Twitter and WhatsApp, which are used by many organizations for customer interaction. This is important because it allows us to protect our customers' data, even when they are interacting with us on multiple platforms.
My experience of the critical regulations that Purview was built taking into account is predominantly UK regulations. When I first started at my organization, part of my role was data protection. So being able to benchmark our data against the GDPR and some of the UK's specific regulations was fantastic. But now I work with multinational clients, so we have offices in various locations in different geographies. So having specific legislation for the areas in which they operate is brilliant. More organizations are spread across different continents and countries. So being able to apply different legislation to different parts of their estate depending on where their offices are operating is a fantastic feature.
We are currently updating our data loss prevention policy internally, and we highly recommend that our clients use Microsoft Purview for DLP as well. I demonstrated Purview to a client a few months ago, and they were incredibly impressed with how effective it can be. I think they were particularly surprised by how quickly it can identify sensitive data. For example, we did a quick test where we uploaded a document that contained a piece of personal information that we had asked the Purview policy to look for. As soon as we uploaded the document to a SharePoint document library, we received an email alert warning us that the sensitive information was present and could be accessed by others. The alert was almost instantaneous. This shows that Purview is a very effective system for protecting data.
Microsoft Purview has enabled us to truly embed a culture of data governance among staff. This has been a major success, not just within our own organization, but also with our partners and clients. Many people talk about the importance of data governance, but Purview has helped us to increase the knowledge base of our users and empower them to take ownership of their data, rather than relying solely on IT professionals or data protection staff. This is a real positive for any business, especially those that work with sensitive information. The automation capabilities of Purview have also been a huge hit with our users. The ability to automatically apply data labels and implement advanced encryption policies has made it much easier for us to protect our data.
In previous years, we have used various methods and systems to try to achieve the same outcome, including spreadsheets and stand-alone systems. We are heavy users of Microsoft 365, so it is our primary system, but we also use other systems. Having one solution that can deploy our core policies and protections across different devices and platforms.
Microsoft Purview's reduction of solutions simplified our data governance. In the past, our data was scattered across different locations, making it difficult to manage and protect. Purview has brought our data together into one place, making it easier for users to access and for us to implement data governance policies. I believe that the more systems we have, the greater the risk of data protection incidents and the more difficult it is to deploy a unified data governance strategy. Reducing the complexity of our IT infrastructure goes hand-in-hand with improving data governance.
Some of the features in Purview have illuminated areas of our data site. In particular, when we have worked with organizations with large volumes of data, it has helped us to identify issues. For example, benchmarking our state against GDPR highlighted aspects of our operations that were not compliant. This was more important than the areas that were compliant, as it helped us to focus our attention on where we needed to make improvements. This helps us to provide assurance to our board.
We are about to launch an internal awareness campaign about AI and how we can use it. Microsoft Purview is on the list of AI solutions we will be considering. We are also about to start using Microsoft Copilot, and some of our staff are already using ChatGPT. We are looking at AI solutions within Microsoft 365 and some of our other systems. This is an area that we are very keen to develop, and it is something that our clients are also interested in. We can explore this in more detail in the coming months.
I've been amazed at how quickly the automation responds, especially when we have a large dataset. It takes that pain away from Teams and acts as a monitor for us. It's saved a huge amount of time, and once it can demonstrate internally or to clients how effectively it does what they expect it to do, that will save more time, but people who are responsible for this information need a lot of reassurance.
Purview enables us to demonstrate our compliance in real-time. We provide live reports to auditors and anyone responsible for information security risk management. We can show them our compliance status in real-time, which is excellent.
Our meetings with compliance regulators are positive when they are familiar with Purview. However, if they are not, we must be able to demonstrate to them how effective the solution is and how it can assist the organization in improving its data governance and data security. This has made the meetings much more positive, as the regulators are more assured that we are being more responsive and effective with the information we hold.
Automation plays a significant role in reducing the time to action on insider threats. We have had procedures in place for identifying, mitigating, and responding to specific risks, both internally and accidentally. However, our previous procedures were very manual, which obviously takes time. Now, in some situations, we can respond almost instantly. Automation has significantly improved our response time. Data breaches, for example, used to take a long time to investigate under our old process. From when a user reported a breach to when we could start investigating, it took hours to complete the necessary paperwork and documentation. But by using automation and some of the features in PurView, we've been able to reduce that time to minutes. In some areas, we've probably been able to reduce investigation time by 50 percent or more.
Time-saving is probably the most important benefit of automation and AI. The more time we can save people, across the board, not just Purview, the better. When we can automate tasks and improve response times, it takes away the need for manual input and frees people to concentrate on more important things. This naturally has a financial benefit. From my role, I've seen that the time savings have been really important. In some areas, we've seen time savings of up to 50 percent. So, when deployed properly, the benefits of automation and AI are huge.
Our ability to oversee compliance using Purview has been a game-changer. We have developed our own in-house compliance and risk management software, which I have been involved in. However, using Purview has been even more impactful. In addition to the automation and time savings, the key thing for us is the educational aspect. Purview helps us to raise awareness and make the organization more data-aware, regardless of role. This enables us to identify issues and, more importantly, rectify them.
What is most valuable?
The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent. We had an internal document retention schedule, but when we first created it, much of our data was in paper form. As our data became digitized and moved to SharePoint Online, particularly when we migrated away from our on-premises file server, the ability to replicate that retention schedule in Purview and deploy it across all of our SharePoint sites and OneDrive made life so much easier. Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods.
Similarly, our sensitivity labels were scattered throughout SharePoint Online. We wanted to push data governance internally, not just from a technical data management perspective, but also from an education perspective. So, we created a data classification system based on sensitivity and deployed it across our 365 apps, including Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. This not only allowed us to protect more sensitive data and ensure that it was being handled responsibly, but it also allowed us to use features like prompting users to apply a label to a document before interacting with it. This helped us deploy labels more quickly and also got staff thinking about the data they were working with.
In my experience, particularly in organizations that work with a lot of sensitive data, staff can become complacent over time and desensitized to the importance of looking after that data if they're using it day in and day out. So, having a visual prompt to apply a label and think about the documents they're working with and what that means was a really useful way of promoting data governance across our business.
What needs improvement?
Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people. For example, when I first used Purview, I noticed that one of the self-compliance centers had changed its name. Microsoft has done a huge amount of updates, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what Purview can do. We almost constantly have to explore it.
Maybe Microsoft could have a 365 roadmap where we can look at upcoming features, or some kind of bulletin announcement for Purview users that explains new features and what they can do in simple terms.
We could also look at the menu settings. In my experience of using Purview, we've never used it as an exclusive system for IT professionals or technical staff. We were very keen that other specialists around the business made use of some of these features because we thought that some of what Purview could do was relevant to other departments as well as IT. For example, we have HR managers and financial staff who use it.
I think that some of the terminology in Purview is pitched toward IT and tech professionals, and it may not be immediately understood by other specialists. This is something that could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't seen any issues so far with stability. I know that some policies can take a little bit of time to roll out, depending on how widely they're being deployed. For example, the first sensitivity policy I created took 24-48 hours to start functioning for users. However, this is to be expected in the cloud, as it can take time for changes to filter down. Once the policy became available, I didn't see any issues with it at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview is scalable. When I first deployed it, we deliberately scaled it up by deploying a small number of cache users first, then an individual team, and eventually ramping it up across all of our SharePoint environments, we were able to deploy it widely across Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook as well.
How are customer service and support?
All the interactions I've had with the technical support, they've been really good. So I've got no complaints at all.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we had processes in place for things like data protection, naming conventions, and so on, but we were very reliant on our IT infrastructure for governance. Purview has allowed us to act more effectively and quickly, and to get more people involved at an administrator level. This has been empowering for some teams, particularly HR, which can now run policies appropriate for them without having to rely on IT. This has been a very positive change for those teams.
How was the initial setup?
Purview was straightforward to deploy, but complex to bring staff up to speed. Like any organization, we have people with varying levels of understanding of these systems and what they are trying to achieve. So, while it was easy for our team members to create and deploy Purview, the education piece took time. For example, we deployed sensitivity and retention labels on a team-by-team basis, training each team and bringing them up to speed before moving on. We found this to be the easiest way to deliver the training internally. Overall, I think Purview is very straightforward from a technical point of view, but the difficulty of bringing staff up to speed will vary depending on the organization.
A core group of eight of us evaluated the various aspects of what Purview could do. We took ownership of the areas that applied to our roles or departments to deploy sensitivity and retention policies. It took us four months. We only took a few days to create the policies and set up the labels. However, we wanted to manage the rollout carefully because training was key to ensuring that staff would get the most out of the system. So, we didn't rush the rollout. However, the actual technical side, the creation itself, only took a few days, or a couple of meetings.
What was our ROI?
We recommend Purview to clients and don't know if they see an ROI. However, in my previous role at a previous organization, we used Purview internally. I cannot speak to exact figures, but I do know that our creditors regularly reviewed our viability, and data governance, data assurance, and data protection. Being able to demonstrate that we have these tools available to make us more secure as an organization and to protect the sensitive information we hold obviously had an effect on our reputation and viability in the eyes of our creditors and auditors. As a business, I would say that we felt Purview was worth the investment in that particular situation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
To get the full features of Purview, we currently need E5 enterprise licenses, which are expensive. I'm not sure what Microsoft's business model is for this, because we can acquire some of the features of Purview, or we can access it by speaking to our Microsoft partners or vendors. But I think Microsoft is currently pitching Purview primarily to medium to large organizations. I believe there is a real appetite for data governance in smaller businesses as well because all businesses have information that needs to be protected and governed effectively. I have clients who own small businesses who cannot justify the cost of E5 enterprise licenses. Some of them are on business standard or business premium licenses. I think Microsoft should consider reducing the price of Purview or making it more available to more people. Perhaps Microsoft could offer a scaled-down version of Purview. I know there is an appetite for Purview among smaller businesses, but they often have to do a cost-benefit analysis and decide that the additional cost is not justified. It's a shame because they would really benefit from some of the features of Purview.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview nine out of ten. Purview is a highly effective and useful feature in Microsoft 365. As a technical system, it is brilliant. However, I am concerned that it may be too expensive for smaller businesses, which is a shame.
The first time I used and rolled out Purview, it was for multiple departments in a medium-sized business. By the end of the rollout, everyone was using it. Internally, we have deployed Purview to two of our geographical locations, but we still have some others to roll it out to. With my clients, the ones who have shown an interest in Purview and are using it tend to be larger businesses that work across geographies. They are deploying Purview to their various office locations in different countries. The speed of deployment depends on the size of the company. We have 150 users.
Purview needs to be reviewed periodically to ensure that the policies are still appropriate and effective. We have tried to automate as much of this process as possible, so from a maintenance point of view, Purview does not require much manual effort. However, we do have a core group of people who regularly review Purview to stay ahead of new features and to determine whether they are appropriate for our organization.
We are currently reviewing some of the new features and redoing many of our policies. In some cases, we are considering switching from manual hard copy or written policies to policies in Purview, either to work alongside their document or to replace it. We will be gearing up for this transition soon.
I would test Purview, explore its features, and seek advice from people who have used it or from Microsoft themselves. This would help me to understand what it can do. I think it is important to avoid keeping Purview as an IT-only tool. Instead, promote its capabilities to a wider audience, including other stakeholders. Once creating and deploying solutions in Purview, I recommend deploying them to a targeted area first and then scaling them up. If a retention policy is suddenly deployed across the entire estate, people may not understand what they are looking at and may resist using it. My advice is to learn about Purview, share the learned knowledge with others, and involve other areas of the business in its deployment. Also, think carefully about how to deploy Purview in a way that minimizes disruption.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Offers cross-platform capabilities, centralized data management, and a variety of features that enable compliance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspect of Purview is its PowerShell connectivity, enabling automation."
- "Setting up Purview in a production tenant proved challenging due to a lack of clear documentation on permission requirements."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Purview helps our business identify valuable information across various data types by using machine learning and customizable tags. It then allows users to export this data with PowerShell and combine it with metadata from other Microsoft products, facilitating both data analysis and migration processes.
How has it helped my organization?
While I haven't used Purview's cross-platform capabilities, I'm impressed by Microsoft's integration of its various solutions, including ComplianceOne and SharePoint, which cater to large enterprises. A deep dive into the functionality confirmed this positive impression.
The ability of Microsoft Purview to connect across devices, including Macs like mine, is a major benefit. While I was surprised to find PowerShell running smoothly on Mac, Purview itself has been user-friendly and avoided the issues I've read about online. This ease of use is crucial for me.
My previous projects focused on M365, but the next step is integrating Azure Virtual Machines into our solutions. In this context, Purview's ability to natively integrate compliance across both Azure Dynamics and Office 365 is crucial for ensuring our work scales effectively.
The biggest advantage of Purview is its ability to centralize data management. This multi-platform tool integrates data assets from across the company, providing a reliable and unified way to handle data procedures. This consistency, a hallmark of Microsoft products, is valuable for many users.
Designed for our regulated environment, Purview offers a variety of features that enable us to develop compliant solutions even when limitations seem to restrict what's achievable.
Purview has helped save us time through automation.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspect of Purview is its PowerShell connectivity, enabling automation. The content explorer helps visualize how classifiers, including custom-sensitive information types, identify content. Purview even allows testing these custom types with a dedicated button. Overall, PowerShell governance and export capabilities significantly improve our workflow by automating tasks and simplifying data extraction.
What needs improvement?
While Microsoft Purview addresses global regulations, it lacks out-of-the-box functionality. Extensive development is needed to define sensitive information types and train rectifiers for each customer. Most importantly, Purview currently lacks multi-language support, hindering its use in multilingual environments. Since communication compliance is the only exception, future updates should include sensitive information types and keywords in major languages, especially those relevant to the European Union. This would require customization efforts to create equivalents for these information types and keywords in other languages.
The rapid pace of feature changes in Purview, including marketing shifts, retirements, merges, and splits, creates challenges. Documentation struggles to keep up, leaving users behind. Further compounding this issue is the inconsistency of PowerShell modules. While some, like the SAP exporter, function well, others, like the trainable classifier's missing fetch module, significantly limit the usability of a potentially valuable feature. This lack of polish hinders automation efforts and makes data governance assessments more difficult.
Setting up Purview in a production tenant proved challenging due to a lack of clear documentation on permission requirements. While Purview offers role-based access with custom role creation, there's no built-in explanation of each role's function and associated permissions. Microsoft Learn documentation wasn't helpful either. Ideally, Purview should provide in-context information about each role within the portal, eliminating the need for cryptic names and extensive external research.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for under one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview seems to be functioning, but there's a lack of clarity on how it analyzes data. The content explorer shows inconsistencies, with Microsoft acknowledging that the actual document count might differ from what's displayed. This suggests limitations in the current setup. While improvement is desirable, it's still a usable tool.
How are customer service and support?
I submitted a support request in the test tenant, possibly specific to that environment. However, the Purview quality was lacking. Automatic replies didn't address my question, which seemed misplaced within the chosen topic. It felt like I contacted the wrong department. Instead of offering real support, they suggested I write a public blog post seeking help online. This was essentially non-existent support, potentially due to limited resources for test tenant users. It's unclear if this reflects the quality of support for the expensive enterprise licenses.
How was the initial setup?
While deploying Purview itself was easy for me after I had spent significant time getting a Microsoft certification, onboarding junior colleagues who haven't had that preparation is proving more challenging. Despite their initial confusion, the overall structure and features of Purview seem well-organized and at least decent.
While a single person could deploy Purview in this instance because it's a test tenant, it's important to clarify that this ease of deployment applies only to the test environment and wouldn't be representative of the process for a production tenant.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Purview is a subscription-based service, so we need either an E3 or E5 license to use it. The specific features we have access to within Purview depend on which of these licenses we have.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview eight out of ten.
To choose the best Purview subscription for your needs, I recommend using a test tenant to explore Purview's features and value proposition. This will help you identify the most critical functionalities and choose the subscription that best aligns with your business requirements.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Enterprise data architect at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
Works seamlessly with Microsoft products but not with third-party products
Pros and Cons
- "Their data labeling or data classification is particularly valuable because we want to categorize all of our data into confidential, public, or internal."
- "It supports only a limited number of tools and technologies that pertain to Microsoft products. If you want to leverage other solutions such as Workday or Oracle Fusion, features will be coming up, but as of now, it is for the Microsoft suite."
What is our primary use case?
We migrated everything to the Azure cloud. Microsoft Purview was coming up at the time, and we also started looking into their other products such as Microsoft Power Platform, particularly Power BI. We wanted to see how these particular tools can go head to head and how they would be useful. This is when we started with Microsoft Purview. The POC itself took more than a year because it was not easy. The tool was growing. It took a long time to get their product support help to fix some of the issues and features.
In the last year, we started using it for a few things. One is mainly data protection. We mainly targeted the scenarios where when someone is sending a document in an email or labeling a document as confidential, what the person receiving the document can do.
We are trying to cover Microsoft 365-related products. We are trying to use it for the data discovery process. That is the end goal. Across the organization, we want people to be able to find the data easily. There is a kind of data marketplace, and we started to use it for data discovery.
How has it helped my organization?
Data discovery is one of the beautiful things of Microsoft Purview. We mostly have Microsoft products, so it has been helpful, but we are continuously growing. We are still in the learning stage with this product. We are trying to onboard only a small amount of data, and then we will see how we can curate the data so that it is meaningful. Slowly, and probably after a year, we will come to know how efficiently we are using Microsoft Purview as a part of the data discovery phase.
Microsoft Purview is a cloud-native app. So far, we have only used it with Windows with Chrome or Edge browser, and it works seamlessly. It is not a problem. We have not used it with other OSs, but it should work with them.
Microsoft Purview was built taking into account critical regulations from around the world. Data classification is one of the beautiful features. It works seamlessly.
Microsoft Purview's natively integrated compliance across Azure, Dynamics 365, and Office 365 is perfect.
Microsoft Purview enables you to show your compliance in real time. There is the Insights dashboard, which is particularly for security officers. They can always go and have a look. If there are any compliance issues with the portal, they can always go and check anytime.
Microsoft Purview has helped to reduce the time to action on insider threats, but I do not have the metrics. We are in the discovery phase. After a year, we should be able to provide exact metrics. As of now, we just look into the issue and take action. It is helping to reduce the errors. In terms of percentage, there are about 20% savings.
Microsoft Purview will save us time and overall product delivery costs. Product data discovery should be easy, which will reduce the overall product delivery time. This is something that we are working on. There should be at least 10% savings on the project delivery time.
What is most valuable?
There are several features. Their data labeling or data classification is particularly valuable because we want to categorize all of our data into confidential, public, or internal. Microsoft Purview works seamlessly with the Microsoft product suite, including Office 365, to schematize the data assets, so data labeling and classification have been helpful.
Microsoft Purview can connect with all of our security-related things across Office 365. It easily connects with Microsoft Defender. The integration with Microsoft Defender is good.
It works well for schematized data assets for lineage tracking. Overall, it works well if someone is using mostly Microsoft products.
What needs improvement?
It is still growing. It does not meet all the requirements from the security point of view. It supports only a limited number of tools and technologies that pertain to Microsoft products. If you want to leverage other solutions such as Workday or Oracle Fusion, features will be coming up, but as of now, it is for the Microsoft suite.
It is still growing as a data connector platform for supporting ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources, so not all the products are supported as of now.
As a data catalog tool, it needs to have a connection with all the sources. This improvement is definitely needed because they are supporting only Microsoft-related products but not third-party products.
For how long have I used the solution?
We started to explore Microsoft Purview when they launched it. It was the end of 2021.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product, and continuous improvements are always coming in. After a year, it probably will be a complete tool for all sorts of uses. I would rate it an eight out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is unlimited. I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of scalability.
We currently have 10 to 20 people using the tool. It is deployed as part of information technology from the IT management, and we try to circulate it by onboarding various sets of users from various departments.
How are customer service and support?
Last week, I raised an issue with technical support. It issue was a priority for us. Within a couple of hours, they got back. They were efficient with this particular product. I would rate them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used some of the manual processes. We built a data catalog using Vast data services.
How was the initial setup?
It is deployed on the cloud. The deployment time is much less, but because it is a data cataloging tool, curating the data takes time. Spinning of the environment and starting it can be done in a couple of hours.
It definitely requires maintenance from the data security and data scanning point of view.
What about the implementation team?
We have a data governance team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is cheap. It is based on consumption. If somebody wants to start using it, the price is definitely cheaper than a tool like Collibra.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend Microsoft Purview. However, it is not good for data quality. If you are not looking for data quality and you only want a complete security and data cataloging tool, it is perfect.
It is still maturing. At this time, I would rate Microsoft Purview a six out of ten.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Purview Data Governance Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2025
Popular Comparisons
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)
Microsoft Sentinel
Microsoft Defender XDR
Varonis Platform
Azure Key Vault
Collibra Platform
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Qlik Talend Cloud
Alation Data Catalog
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Purview Data Governance Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Which Data Governance tool would you choose and why: Microsoft Azure Purview or IBM Data Governance?
- Which tool is better for data governance: Collibra or Azure Purview?
- What is the difference between Collibra Data Governance and Azure Purview?
- Looking for peer reviews on Microsoft Azure Purview
- Which is a better Data Governance tool: Collibra Governance or Microsoft Purview?
- Microsoft Purview vs Collibra. What do you prefer?
- What are the main differences between Varonis and Microsoft Purview?
- What are the main differences between Valora Technologies and Microsoft Purview?
- Which data catalog can provide support for BI data sources such as SAP BO and Tableau?
- What is the difference between master data management and data governance?













