When the Head of Privacy at a massive retailer was evaluating Microsoft Copilot, they weren’t just thinking about innovation. They needed to ensure their company stayed aligned with industry best practices — without exposing them to unexpected privacy risks.
Before moving forward, they wanted to hear from their peers:
“I’m particularly interested in anything we should flag in terms of setting expectations regarding data privacy practices for the tool users.”
The Data Privacy Board became their shortcut to a smarter strategy.
The Power of an Instant Advisory Board
Instead of spending time researching — or worse, waiting to learn the hard way —this privacy leader tapped into the Data Privacy Board’s Fast Feedback forum, a confidential space where members benchmark and troubleshoot in real-time.
Quickly, a privacy executive at another large retailer responded to share:
- How their teams have done a good job mitigating privacy risks so far.
- A preview of the written guidance and internal resource hub they were creating.
Plus, this leader offered to connect 1:1 to share firsthand insights, so our team made the connection immediately.
But the conversation didn’t stop there.
Peer Insights for Smarter, Safer AI Implementation
With dozens of privacy leaders facing the same challenge, our Membership Director facilitated a confidential Community Call — a faster way to come together to surface real, unbiased lessons learned from major brands already implementing Microsoft Copilot.
During the call, members shared key insights, including:
Best Practices for Governance & Transparency: One company that had already launched Copilot outlined their operational guidelines, focusing on:
- Data governance and transparency
- Privacy and accountability
- Bias elimination strategies
- AI usage training and resource hubs
Scoping Out HR & Legal Risks: Another privacy leader flagged a major risk — if you don’t exclude HR or legal data from Copilot’s search, it could surface and reference sensitive information. Some members recommended Microsoft’s new whitelist feature as an effective safeguard.
Managing Automatic Meeting Transcription & Retention: Members raised concerns about an auto-transcription feature, especially for companies subject to legal holds. The solution?
- Align transcription policies with retention strategies.
- Use Microsoft Information Protection to classify data and apply access controls.
- Tie Copilot groups and permissions into a larger data loss prevention strategy.
Stay Ahead — Without the Risky Guesswork
No company wants to be an outlier in the highly regulated privacy space. The safest place to be is in the middle of the pack — aligned with industry best practices.
That’s exactly what the Data Privacy Board provides. It’s like having an instant advisory board, helping you benchmark at scale, solve problems faster, and reduce risk.
