It’s no secret – Microsoft Purview frustrates security teams daily. You’ve invested in E5 licensing but watch Purview’s promise evaporate against real-world challenges. Complex setup drains resources. Inefficient indexing cripples performance. The Microsoft-only focus creates blind spots across your wider tech landscape. Data protection remains out of reach as arbitrary limits force impossible choices between adequate coverage and reasonable costs. Your security architecture deserves better than these artificial constraints on what should be a cornerstone tool.
This blog explores Purview’s key strengths and critical weaknesses, then reveals how Symmetry Systems transforms these limitations into advantages. From bridging non-Microsoft environments to enabling true enforcement capabilities, discover how the Symmetry Purview Connector creates the comprehensive data security solution your organization deserves.
Overview
Microsoft Purview, included with the Microsoft 365 E5 license, is a foundational tool for organizations seeking to govern and protect their data. Microsoft continues to promote its adoption as part of a modern data governance strategy.
Key Capabilities
- Visibility – Offers organization-wide insight into data locations and usage.
- Data Security – Protects sensitive data throughout its lifecycle.
- Governance – Supports structured, policy-driven data management.
- Risk Management – Aids in identifying and addressing compliance risks.
Key Limitations
- Complex Deployment – Initial setup and configuration require significant resources and expertise.
- Inefficient Indexing – Updates to classifications or metadataMetadata is data that provides information about other data.... More often require full re-indexing, which can be resource-intensive for large data environments.
- Integration Challenges – Integrating with Azure landing zones and hybrid infrastructures can be cumbersome.
- Resource Constraints – Each Purview account starts with a single capacity unit (25 operations/sec, 10 GB metadata storage). Physical asset limits and scan size caps can restrict scalability. Exceeding these limits can lead to significant cost overruns. Examples:
- Add on cost per page scanned, documents
- Classification limited to a small number of docs per day
- Limited number of file formats are supported
- Microsoft-Centric Footprint – Purview is limited to Microsoft ecosystems (including some partners such as Snowflake). Organizations with MacOS, Linux, or non-Microsoft workloads require additional tools for full data visibility.
- Limited Enforcement and Identity Mapping – Native capabilities around enforcement and linking identity to data usage are limited.
How Symmetry Systems Complements and Extends Purview
Symmetry Purview Connector
Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Purview to unify visibility across both Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments. Symmetry ingests Purview-monitored data and correlates it with information from MacOS, Linux, and other non-Windows systems as well as across clouds (Azure, GCP, AWS, OCI) – creating a true single pane of glass.
Advanced Classification
Symmetry DataGuard ships with 200+ built-in classifiers, including niche categories such as medical, genomic, or secrets data. This expands Purview’s native classification capabilities to several more file types and improves precision in labeling sensitive data.
Label Handling and Synchronization
- Displays and manages Purview sensitivity labels across OneDrive and SharePoint.
- Supports real-time updates, including label changes and removals based on content changes.
- Imports and applies Purview labels via Symmetry’s robust API support, leveraging Symmetry’s classification engine.
- Adds source prefixes to distinguish Symmetry DataGuard (DG) classifications from native Purview labels.
Security Enhancements
Interactive delegation and MFA login are enforced when initiating the Purview connector, ensuring secure access control and integration.
Policy Enforcement & Alerting
Symmetry DataGuard provides the enforcement layer Purview lacks, enabling alerting and remediation actions based on sensitive data access or misuse—across your full IT estate. In addition, DataGuard’s classification accuracy and data label coverage can be leveraged to trigger Purview security policies, including Copilot enforcement.
In Summary
Organizations leveraging Microsoft Purview can elevate their data protection and governance posture by integrating Symmetry DataGuard. With native support for Purview and extended visibility into non-Microsoft environments, Symmetry delivers a unified framework for managing data security, governance, compliance, and risk—at enterprise scale. Symmetry can help overcome the limitations imposed by Purview and the associated cost overruns.
Together, Symmetry Systems and Microsoft Purview offer an integrated, AI-powered platform for comprehensive data lifecycle protection.
