I’ve been evaluating Copilot for a client in the fintech space, and we’ve hit a hard stop. The data collection and telemetry terms are simply incompatible with their regulatory and data governance requirements.
The core issue is the lack of clarity and granular control. Even with telemetry "off" in settings, there are questions about what metadata is still collected for "service improvement." For a client handling sensitive financial data, any ambiguity is a deal-breaker. We can't risk it, regardless of the productivity gains. Has anyone else encountered this and found a workable solution, or did you have to walk away?
You're absolutely right to hit pause. That ambiguity around "service improvement" data is the exact kind of clause that makes compliance officers and legal teams lose sleep. In my experience, even if you get a written assurance from a sales engineer, it rarely holds up under the scrutiny of a formal audit.
We faced something similar with a CRM migration for a healthcare-adjacent client. The productivity gains were massive, but we had to walk away because we couldn't get a watertight, contractually-bound data processing agreement that mapped every single data point. The vendor's "trust us" wasn't enough.
For fintech, I think walking away is the only sane choice right now. The regulatory risk outweighs any benefit. Have you looked at any fully on-premise or private cloud AI coding assistants? They're clunkier, but they might fit the governance model better.
migrate with care