Data privacy compliance is not just a matter of complying with the law. It is also about your company’s reputation and competitiveness. A large number of countries have implemented data privacy laws, and more are on the way. There are also revisions to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, more complex by post-Brexit and UK DPA2018. The time to kick start planning for global data privacy compliance is now. Here is what you need to know.
The Challenge of Global Data Privacy Compliance
The increasing use of mobile devices, cloud services, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and increasing volume and velocity of data in business operations are two critical drivers for global compliance requirements. This has impacted data privacy compliance strategies, which are no longer an option but rather a requirement. The increased compliance challenge in data privacy includes protecting data privacy by not exposing data or processing data without consent or using one of the lawful basis for basic data and sensitive data.. By showing that the data privacy controls are designed to deliver privacy excellence. Analysing how data is processed and by whom, where and when will support that excellence.
The need for global data privacy compliance
Technology is changing the business world as we know it. Data is already the oil of the 21st century, powering the digital economy. And it is fuelling the global economy as well. But the ever-increasing new data privacy regulations worldwide are changing the game. Over 100 jurisdictions—countries, states, and cities—have enacted their own data privacy laws post GDPR. Many organisations struggle to move their compliance programs from a decentralised country team silo to one centralised global compliance effort. But in this change, how do you still capture local country regulatory knowledge?
“Formiti Data International Chief Executive Officer Robert Healey states that in 2021 the global data privacy landscape mandates teams that are at expert level in all country regulations and cover all disciplines, Operations, technology and legal.”
The importance of a roadmap
According to the Information Security Forum, organizations have struggled to bring technology and processes together to ensure the governance, visibility, and security of personal data across their entire organization. To meet their compliance obligations and manage their privacy risks, these organizations need to create a roadmap to ensure they are operating in compliance. A strategic roadmap is a key component of how organizations can cope with the many multi-jurisdictional data regulations. A roadmap aims to ensure that organizations have a clear picture of their data privacy posture across the entire organization and each specific area of responsibility. A key strategy in the organization’s effort to implement a robust roadmap is to address the various stakeholders who should be on the roadmap.
The Data Privacy Compliance Approach Top 4 Components of Data Governance
As per the GDPR, organizations need to establish a structured and thorough approach to ensuring data privacy compliance. This requires that security and privacy policies be developed and communicated by data subjects and documented in formalized processes, and embedded into everyday operations. Organisations should develop such processes so that information is shared across multiple departments, including IT, legal, compliance, information security, marketing, and more. To achieve this, there are four key components that you must consider:
Know your data: Understand and map your data landscape and identity important data across your environment.
Prevent data loss: Prevent accidental oversharing of sensitive data with awareness campaigns and training.
Protect your data: Apply flexible protection actions, including encryption, access control etc.
Govern your data: Retain, delete, and store data aligned with your data retention schedule.
Organizations need to build upon these four areas while going through their data privacy compliance strategy to maintain compliance.
Conclusion
The rise of specialised global data privacy consultancies: In the new era of global digital technologies, companies and organisations which collect consumer data have become more sophisticated about data privacy. However, in the latest headlines, data privacy compliance has become an issue for governments as well. This has led to the rise of specialised global data privacy consultancies.