You Don't Need 40 Sensitivity Labels. You Need 4.

When companies start protecting their data in Microsoft Purview, the instinct is to build a label for every possible case. Confidential-Legal, Confidential-HR-Level-2, Internal-But-Not-Really. Then nobody uses any of them, because nobody can remember which is which.

Start with four

• Public — fine to share outside the company.
• Internal — everyday work, staff only.
• Confidential — client and business data; encrypted.
• Highly Confidential — the crown jewels; locked down tight.

Four labels people actually understand will protect you far more than forty perfect ones they ignore.

Why simple wins

Labels only work if people apply them, and people only apply what they can remember. Every extra label is another decision that slows someone down — and a slowed-down person just picks nothing. A scheme that gets used at 90% beats a "complete" scheme that gets used at 10%.