Effective March 7, 2024, Microsoft announced the expansion of its data residency capabilities. By adding content of interactions with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to its portfolio of data residency commitments and offerings, Microsoft is ensuring that the content of users’ interactions with Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be stored in the same country or region where their existing Microsoft 365 content resides.
Microsoft has consistently prioritized security, privacy, compliance, and transparency in its products and services. Users entrust Microsoft with their valuable data, and the company’s approach to data privacy reflects this trust. Microsoft’s commitment allows users to have control over the data they store in the cloud, including the choice of where it is stored. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements have transformed productivity, security, and learning, Microsoft’s foundational values regarding data privacy and residency remain steadfast. The technology may evolve, but the commitment to user trust remains unchanged.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 data commitments and offerings
Microsoft assures that content for interaction data with Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be stored according to your specified data storage location for Microsoft 365 data. This commitment only applies to customers whose tenants are provisioned in specific geographies, with add-on options available for additional geographies below. You can already delete content of interactions data with Copilot for Microsoft 365 at any time.
Microsoft 365 provides an array of data storage options to help support your data residency and privacy obligations. Each of the following also applies to content of interactions with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.
- Product Terms Data Residency provides data residency commitments for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Teams in the following country and regions: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, United States, and the European Union.
- Advanced Data Residency add-on (ADR) provides eligible customers with expanded coverage of Microsoft 365 workloads, committed data residency in local datacenter regions, and prioritized tenant migration services. ADR is available in all the regions covered by Product Terms Data Residency, as well as Poland, Italy, and Israel with new local data center regions in Mexico and Spain coming soon.
- Multi-Geo Capabilities add-on provides customers with the ability to expand their Microsoft 365 presence to multiple geographic regions within a single existing Microsoft 365 tenant. Multi-Geo Capabilities are available in the same set of local regions as ADR plus the three macro regions – Americas, Asia-Pacific, and European Union. Please review details for covered workloads.
- EU Data Boundary allows customers in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association to keep their data in the EU.
What’s next?
Microsoft has updated its commitments to incorporate Copilot for Microsoft 365 content interaction data. Customers covered by these commitments can be confident that this data will be stored within their local region. In the coming months, Microsoft will enhance the Data Location Card in the Microsoft 365 admin center to include Copilot for Microsoft 365. Currently, this Data Location Card enables Microsoft 365 customers to view the specific geographic storage location for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Teams. Additionally, for customers utilizing the ADR add-on, the Data Location Card provides further transparency regarding the geographical location for extended workloads.
More information
For more information about data residency in the AI era, please read the official announcement with many more links included: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2024/03/07/data-residency-in-the-ai-era-new-capabilities-to-manage-your-data/.
Contact us to learn about the options available to manage your organization’s data, and especially whether Advanced Data Residency or Multi-Geo capabilities would help meet your data residency needs.
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