A plain-English guide to data governance and why ABT is rolling Purview out across our customer base.
Every business now sits on a mountain of data, emails, contracts, customer records, financials, project files. Most of it is sensitive in some way. And with AI tools like Microsoft Copilot now reading and reasoning across that data, the old question of “who can see what?” has never mattered more.
That’s where Microsoft Purview comes in.
What is Microsoft Purview?
Microsoft Purview is Microsoft’s unified platform for data security, governance, and compliance. In plain English, it helps your business answer four questions every organisation should be able to answer:
- What data do we have?
- Where is it stored?
- Who can access it?
- How is it protected?
Think of Purview as a control layer sitting quietly across your Microsoft 365 environment, your emails, Teams chats, SharePoint sites, OneDrive files, and beyond, making sure the right people see the right information, and that sensitive data doesn’t end up where it shouldn’t
Why data governance matters now especially with AI
For years, data governance was a back-office concern. Today, it’s a front-office one. Regulators, insurers, and customers all expect businesses to demonstrate that they’re protecting the information they hold.
AI has turned up the volume. Tools like Microsoft Copilot are incredibly powerful, but they see everything an employee can see. That means:
- Old permission mistakes (a folder shared too widely years ago) suddenly become very visible.
- Data leaks can happen faster, because AI can surface information instantly.
- Staff will only adopt AI tools confidently when the right guardrails are in place.
Good governance isn’t about slowing AI down. It’s about making sure AI works on the right data, for the right people, in the right way.
What Purview actually does
Without getting technical, Purview helps your business by:
- Giving visibility: showing where sensitive information lives across Microsoft 365.
- Classifying and labelling: automatically tagging data like Confidential or Internal Only.
- Preventing data loss: stopping sensitive information being emailed, shared, or pasted where it shouldn’t be.
- Adding AI guardrails: controlling what Copilot and other AI tools can access.
- Supporting compliance: making audits, retention, and reporting far easier.
Most users won’t notice Purview day-to-day. They’ll only see a gentle warning before doing something risky exactly as it should be.
Frequently asked questions
- Will Purview slow our staff down? No. It runs in the background. Most users only see a prompt when they’re about to do something risky, like sharing a confidential file externally.
- Is Microsoft using our data to train AI? No. Your data stays your data. Purview actually strengthens that boundary by making sure AI tools only see what they’re allowed to.
- Do small businesses really need this? Yes. Smaller businesses are often the most exposed because they don’t have dedicated security teams. Purview gives you enterprise-grade protection without enterprise-grade complexity.
- What about Microsoft Copilot? Purview is the foundation that makes Copilot safe to roll out. It ensures Copilot only surfaces information a user is genuinely allowed to see.
- What about non-Microsoft tools like ChatGPT? Purview can detect when staff use third-party AI tools and apply rules to stop sensitive information being pasted into them.
- What happens next? ABT is enabling baseline Purview protections across our managed customer base as a standard part of keeping your environment secure and AI-ready.
The bottom line
Trust is the new currency of AI. The businesses that win with AI will be the ones that govern their data well, quietly, consistently, and confidently.
Microsoft Purview is how we help you do exactly that.
Want to know what Purview means for your business? Talk to your ABT account manager, or get in touch with our team, we’re happy to walk you through it in plain English.
