Microsoft officially launched Copilot for Microsoft 365 Enterprise customers back in November 2023. A couple of months later, in January 2024, it launched Copilot for all Microsoft 365 business customers, regardless of their size.
Today, the company revealed a new development that"s designed to offer more transparency on how Microsoft handles the storage of data with those business users. In a blog post, it stated that the data that shows how customers interact with Copilot with Microsoft 365 will be stored in the same country or region where their current overall Microsoft 365 data content is stored.
In another blog post on this development, Microsoft stated:
This is a significant step forward in our commitment to providing a secure and compliant environment for our enterprise and highlight regulated customers that have data particularly stringent requirements for how their data is stored.
While neither of these blog posts mentions it, this new data interaction storage commitment reveal for Copilot could have something to do with Microsoft"s response to the European Union"s enforcement of its Digital Markets Act, which began this week.
One of the blog posts does mention the EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud, which says the company will offer customers in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association "to keep their data in the EU." Today"s announcement likely means that any data interactions with Copilot for Microsoft 365 will also stay in the EU for those particular users and customers.
In addition to storing Copilot interaction data in the same country or region where general Microsoft 365 data is stored, Microsoft also points out that customers can delete the history of interaction data. at any point. Later in 2024, the company will add a way for customers to view their specific storage location, via the Data Location Card in the Microsoft 365 admin center, so it includes Copilot for Microsoft 365.