Insurance Carrier Achieves Regulatory Readiness with Microsoft Purview
Industry
Insurance
Customer
Mid-market U.S. Insurance Carrier
A Midwestern specialty insurance firm, with 500–1,000 employees, provides underwriting and claims services in a tightly regulated environment.
The company’s leadership had already invested in Microsoft 365 E5 licensing, including Microsoft Purview Information Protection (MPIP).
Key Highlights
Situation
Due to increasing regulatory pressure, the insurance firm faced heightened expectations from both the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and state regulators.
Requirements such as the NAIC Model Laws, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) cybersecurity regulation placed new scrutiny on the insurance sector’s handling of Nonpublic Personal Information (NPPI).
To cope with new regulations, the organization had already invested in Microsoft Purview Information Protection, a significant step forward.
Access to technology alone wasn’t the answer. The company still had sensitive data files saved in multiple places — some in the cloud, some on-premises. Employees attempted to protect data using simple tactics, such as password protection or naming conventions, but these methods lacked consistency and could not withstand an audit. Instead of clarity, these methods of data security created uncertainty and added risk.
To bridge the gap between what it had and what it needed, the client brought in X-Centric IT Solution to transform its Microsoft Purview licenses into a workable and durable compliance solution.
Problem
To summarize, our client was facing problems like:
Pressure to demonstrate compliance with NAIC and state privacy laws
Unstructured data across Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, and file servers
Unclear employee guidance on classifying and handling sensitive data
Underuse of the already licensed data security platform
Solution
X-Centric brought structure, clarity, and speed to the effort of securing sensitive data. Our goal was to make data protection simple, scalable, and aligned with day-to-day business workflows, starting with a strong foundation for labeling and classification.
The solution we proposed was implemented in four integrated phases:
Discovery & Design
Facilitated workshops and data mapping across repositories to surface high-risk content. It helped both IT and business teams obtain a clear understanding of where sensitive information was located.
Policy Configuration
We defined and deployed a four-tier sensitivity label framework—Public, Internal, Confidential, Restricted—and enabled mandatory labeling across Microsoft Office apps. Adding clear rules at this stage reduced ambiguity for employees and set a consistent baseline for future audits.
Enablement & Adoption
To help employees apply the new labeling framework, we built a self-paced training program with knowledge checks and 10 short videos showing how to classify and protect data in Microsoft Office apps. The result: 92% completion of training, ensuring policies were not only deployed but adopted.
Pilot & Rollout
We launched a targeted 50-user pilot with the Underwriting and Claims teams, using their feedback to refine policies before the full rollout. The pilot surfaced real-world edge cases, and because employees were involved from the outset, the broader rollout was both easier and more widely accepted.
Operational Impact
With X-Centric leading the deployment and change management, the client achieved a major milestone: audit readiness. For the first time, it could confidently show regulators, from NAIC to state insurance commissioners, how the firm classified, labeled, and protected customer data.
It accomplished more than compliance as employees shifted from uncertainty to confidence in data handling.
Labels embedded in Office apps made it clear how to treat each document, while training boosted user confidence scores from 59% to 87%. A cross-functional steering committee ensures swift resolution of policy edge cases, maintaining momentum throughout rollout.
Business Outcomes
Grounded in Microsoft Purview, our client’s data security program matured from ad hoc workarounds to a durable platform for resilience. The client successfully adopted Microsoft Purview Information Protection for operational and regulatory resilience. The solution helped close immediate compliance gaps and laid the groundwork for automation, such as auto-classification and Conditional Access enforcement. Internally, the client’s teams now share a common language for handling sensitive data. Externally, IT and compliance leaders can respond to audits and regulator requests with far greater clarity and speed.
1.2 million items labeled across hybrid environments in just 60 days
Real-time dashboards that cut evidence-gathering time from weeks to days
87% of employees reporting improved clarity on how to handle sensitive information
Clear automation roadmap powered by real user behavior and policy telemetry
