From compliance to trust

As data breaches fill headlines and consumer skepticism is at an all-time high, the traditional view of privacy as merely a compliance requirement is rapidly becoming outdated. Privacy is growing. And it’s now a must-have for businesses.

Today, leading organizations understand that privacy is not just about meeting regulatory demands; it’s a strategic asset that can differentiate a brand and build deep, trusting customer relationships.

What caused this shift?

With the rise of technology and the internet over the past two decades, the amount of data available has exploded. Businesses recognized the potential to use this information to increase efficiency and profits.

And as technology use accelerated, regulators fell behind. In some companies, data protection and privacy fell by the wayside. But the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 ushered in a new era of privacy, where compliance was especially prioritized.

A positive privacy experience increases brand preference by as much as 43%.

Yet, in 2024, the tides have shifted again. Gone are the days when privacy was seen solely through the lens of regulation and compliance. Most of the population is protected under some type of data privacy regulation, and businesses have moved beyond privacy compliance to leveraging privacy as a differentiator.

For the second year in a row, TrustArc’s annual Global Privacy Benchmark survey reveals that ‘keeping brand trust’ was the top privacy goal for responding organizations. The report also highlights ‘risks to reputation and trust’ as the second highest privacy risk.

Consumers have also gotten savvier. Now, privacy is a pivotal point of customer experience, with a positive privacy experience increasing brand preference by as much as 43%. This dramatic shift signifies that customers are interested in the end product and the ethics and practices of the companies they engage with.

Companies like Apple are using this shift to their advantage. For example, Apple is known for championing user privacy. It encrypts all data stored on its devices and has a strict policy against collecting and sharing user data without explicit consent. And it focuses on educating consumers about how companies use their data and what options they have to protect it.

34% of consumers will switch companies after one suffers a data breach.

The standard has changed. B2B and B2C consumers expect businesses to be deeply committed to data protection and privacy. In fact, 34% of consumers will switch companies after one suffers a data breach.

The obscurity of trust and safety information

However businesses are running into a problem. Many companies’ policies, notices, communications, cookie banners, etc., aren’t building trust—they’re doing the opposite.

You can’t use privacy to build trust if your policies, notices, disclosures, overviews, and communications are scattered, outdated, and too hard to understand. From managing personalized data privacy preferences to real-time notifications about policy changes, customers want a better solution.

As technology advances and data becomes more valuable than ever, the importance of privacy and transparency will only grow. It’s no longer enough for organizations to simply comply with regulations and meet minimum requirements; they must prioritize building trust with their customers through transparency.

What is a unified Trust Center?

A Trust Center is more than a website or a section on a company’s page. It’s a comprehensive, centralized, virtual space where organizations transparently share privacy, legal, compliance, and security information. These centers demonstrate an organization’s commitment to safeguarding data and respecting user rights, showcasing everything from security reports such as SOC 2 and privacy certifications (e.g. TRUSTe Responsible AI Certification) to real-time updates on policy changes.

TrustArc’s Trust Center exemplifies this evolution, offering a seamless blend of brand elements that reinforce trust while managing all front-facing trust and safety information efficiently. By enabling organizations to update documents instantly and toggle between public and private settings, Trust Centers have become dynamic tools that reflect an organization’s live commitment to trust and safety.

It serves as a hub for consumer engagement, answering critical questions about a company’s privacy policies and practices. It has become a standard tool for managing trust content – crucial for organizations that uphold trust as a core brand value.

The ability to quickly provide stakeholders with easy access to privacy and security information streamlines workflows and drives tangible ROI through enhanced consumer relationships.

Unified Trust Center development

While building a unified Trust Center will vary depending on the organization, below is an example of what’s included in the process. For most organizations this takes at least three months and requires cross-collaboration between many stakeholders including privacy, security, legal, compliance, IT, marketing, and web development.

1. Strategic Planning and Vision:

Identify the trust center’s primary goals and determine its target audience and their specific needs. For example, simplify how the organization communicates and manages all trust and safety information, including privacy, security, legal, compliance, and product. The target audience includes consumers, regulators, and business partners or vendors. Establish a leadership team to oversee the project, align stakeholders, and assign roles and responsibilities.

2. Data Security and Privacy Notices and Policies:

Create or locate your data security and privacy notices and policies that adhere to applicable standards and regulations. Develop an internal audit of content and methods for easy maintenance of content updates.

3. Infrastructure and Technology:

Working with your organization’s information technology and security teams, establish a secure IT infrastructure with advanced security measures, secure data storage solutions, and backup mechanisms. Choose appropriate platforms for the Trust Center’s content management and website development.

4. Content Development:

Design a clear and intuitive information architecture for the Trust Center. Organize content into logical sections such as security, legal, privacy, and transparency/availability. Develop all necessary detailed documents including policies, procedures, certifications, and FAQs. Plan to update this content regularly to reflect the latest practices and updates.

5. Compliance and Certification:

If you haven’t already, consider obtaining relevant security and privacy certifications to display prominently on the Trust Center. Conduct regular audits and address their findings promptly and updated practices as needed.

6. User Experience and Design:

Design the Trust Center with a focus on usability and availability. Test the website’s responsiveness and be sure it works well on various devices and browsers. Incorporate interactive features like compliance reports, self-service portals, and customer support options. Provide tools for customers to assess your compliance and security posture and make individual rights requests.

Keep in mind that poor management of individual rights requests and a subpar user experience can undo the benefits of spending millions on building positive customer sentiment.

7. Continuous Improvement and Monitoring:

Implement tools to monitor the Trust Center’s performance, security, and user engagement. Use analytics to understand user behavior and improve the Trust Center continuously. Establish channels for user feedback and incorporate relevant suggestions into the Trust Center. Regularly review and iterate on your Trust Center based on user needs and industry trends.

8. Communication and Training:

Ensure all stakeholders know their roles in maintaining the Trust Center. Develop a communication plan to promote the trust center to customers and partners. Use various channels to keep stakeholders informed.

9. Incident Response and Management:

Have a clear process for reporting security incidents to customers. Provide timely updates and detailed reports on incidents and resolutions in the Trust Center.

10. Documentation and Reporting:

Gather detailed records of all security measures, compliance activities, and audit results. Be sure this information is easily accessible and current.

Aligning all stakeholders to plan and build a homegrown Trust Center is no easy task.

Not to mention, the build and continuous updates take away time from marketing and web development, costing between $15,000 and $30,000. It also takes weeks and months to build and maintain it (e.g., updating a policy or adding a downstream vendor).

There’s also an enhanced compliance risk to consider as legal and security teams will often need to wait several weeks for their updates to be implemented into the platform.

Don’t Create, Use Trust Center by TrustArc

The transition to viewing privacy as a trust-building tool represents an organizational cultural shift. TrustArc’s no-code Trust Center embodies this change, centralizing privacy, security, legal, and availability workflows, thereby enabling organizations to manage their front-facing trust efficiently.

As privacy regulations continue to evolve, so will the importance of trust and transparency in business practices. Organizations that strategically invest in building a strong Trust Center now will position themselves for long-term success as customer expectations shift towards increased privacy protection.

Creating a modern trust and safety hub like TrustArc’s unified Trust Center empowers core teams, setting up in minutes without the need for coding, and seamlessly blending brand elements into the Trust Center to reinforce trust. This approach enhances efficiency and showcases an organizational commitment to trust and safety by centralizing all relevant information.

The evolution of privacy from compliance to trust is an ongoing process, but embracing this shift can benefit businesses and consumers significantly.

By prioritizing transparency and investing in a comprehensive Trust Center, organizations can build strong customer relationships based on trust and ethical data practices. This will set them apart in a crowded marketplace and foster long-term loyalty and support, as privacy remains a crucial concern for individuals worldwide.

So, the message is clear- make sure your organization has a robust Trust Center in place to reduce reputational and legal risk, while achieving trust by demonstrating your commitment to privacy.

With more alternatives than ever, trust is paramount for business today. Consumers on all sides of the transaction prioritize organizations that are transparent, honest, and reliable. Across every transaction multiple layers of trust coincide.

As a consumer, you trust that a product or service is accurately described and of the quality you expect. If you’re making an online purchase, you trust that the business will, in fact, ship the product after receiving your payment. And your trust also extends to how the organization protects the information you share with it during the transaction.

In a business-to-business environment, you trust that the vendor will meet your needs and provide adequate service levels throughout the relationship. You also trust that your partner will adhere to the terms of your contract regarding proprietary information and company data. Similarly, you must trust that they hire trustworthy people and select other trustworthy vendors for their business.

Every employee in every business has a role to play in building trust inside and outside the organization. Especially the privacy, security, legal, compliance, marketing, and communications teams. These functions are responsible for having accurate information, such as privacy notices and customer-facing policies, available on the organization’s website.

The current state of trust management

Think about how things are run in your company. There’s the Privacy team, the Legal folks, Information Security pros, Compliance officers, the Marketing crew, and the Web Development team. Each group holds a crucial piece of what makes customers trust a company. But they’re often doing their own thing, making it tough to create a united front for earning customer trust.

When efforts and content is scattered, building trust with external stakeholders like customers and partners can fall short. Things like updating privacy policies are important, but if they’re just one-off tasks, they don’t add up to a big picture of trust.

A PWC report found that 24% of bosses say that not having a clear “trust boss” is a big roadblock.

That means there’s a huge opportunity being missed to work better and see real benefits from building trust.

What’s needed is a big shake-up in how companies approach trust. It’s about bringing all external-facing trust and safety information (e.g. legal terms, policies, security disclosures, compliance overviews, subprocessor disclosures, and more) together under one roof. Companies can make a real shift by aligning every action and decision with a clear plan and common goal.

The future of trust involves everyone moving together towards making customers feel secure and valued. That’s how you turn the act of building trust into something that not only feels good but also pays off.

The demand for a unified online hub

The amount of data created online daily is exploding. At the same time, privacy laws are getting stricter, and compliance is becoming more time-consuming. And have you seen the new AI regulations on the way?

On top of regulations are consumer demands.

A staggering 72% of people emphasize the importance of knowing a company’s AI policy before purchasing.

Legal, privacy, compliance, security, and marketing teams are burdened with keeping customer-facing policies, privacy notices, legal terms, compliance updates, overviews, and disclosures current. Likewise, expecting consumers to navigate too many “legal” links can be problematic for a good user experience.

This situation calls for something super handy: a one-stop online hub. You might have heard them called Trust Pages, Privacy Pages, Security Trust Centers, or Trust Portals. Despite the different names, their purpose is unified—to build trust by showcasing your organization’s commitment to all things trust and safety in a clear and easily available manner.

Think of it as a central station where customers can find everything they need to feel safe and informed. Policies? Check. Security details? Got it. Want to know about data handling or give your consent? It’s all there. Even system updates and legal stuff are included.

Plus, this hub makes it easy for everyone to use their privacy rights without a hassle. It’s about keeping things clear, secure, and user-friendly.

This hub is a unified, no-code Trust Center. It’s designed to consolidate fragmented data privacy, security, availability, and legal elements and operations into a unified platform, simplifying how organizations communicate and manage all trust and safety information . So you can easily demonstrate your commitment to data protection.

The storefront of your organization’s data governance practices

A Trust Center is a window into how you manage and protect customer data. It allows users to exercise individual rights, see your privacy certifications and policies, and access any compliance information like regulatory attestations and subprocessor lists.

It’s an interactive section of your website that’s constantly updated. One of the key features of Trust Centers is their user-friendliness. They should be easy to navigate, ensuring users can find needed information easily.

The Trust Center spectrum – Security, privacy, legal, and homegrown solutions

As the digital landscape evolves, Trust Centers have also advanced. Our latest count identifies over 15 different types of platforms; each offering varied capabilities, from standalone automated solutions to integrated systems within broader compliance frameworks.

This diversity means you have options. And you should carefully consider the tools to select the right one for your organization’s unique needs.

The future of trust management: The unified Trust Center

Welcome to the new age of trust management, where we’ve revolutionized the concept of Trust Centers. Our innovative approach combines everything – Privacy, Legal, Security, Compliance, and Product status – into one powerful, cohesive product. Here’s how it works:

• Privacy: Ensures all privacy documents, like policies and disclosures, are updated in line with global regulations.
• Legal: Keeps your organization ahead of legal and regulatory changes significantly reducing compliance risks.
• Security: Easily share important security documents – certifications, SOC reports, and encryption policies securely. Cuts down on incoming questionnaires and speeds up your sales process.
• Product Status: Offer real-time updates on product status and system availability, crucial for upholding Service Level Agreements.

We’re putting the power back into the hands of those who manage legal, security, compliance, and privacy matters. By doing so, organizations can cut down on marketing and development costs while staying compliant in real-time and slashing legal, reputational, and compliance risk.

But what’s in it for you besides cost savings and boosted team productivity? Plenty:

Empower Your Customers: Allows customers and vendors to take control, easily accessing and managing their data. This self-serve model amps up your trust credentials.
Meet Modern Trust Demands: Whether you’re dealing with B2B or B2C clients, our unified Trust Center meets today’s trust challenges head-on, efficiently and effectively.
Boost Trust Perception: When people can see your privacy policies and security measures clearly, they feel safer. It’s all about building confidence.

TrustArc Trust Center isn’t just for the privacy and legal eagles. We’ve designed it to support security, compliance, GRC, marketing, web development, and even product/IT teams. The result?

A smooth, hassle-free user experience that not only demonstrates your commitment to trust but also aligns with your brand values and supports scalable business growth.

In this era, trust is everything. And with a unified Trust Center, you’re not just keeping up; you’re leading the way.

TrustArc’s Nymity Privacy Management Accountability Framework Gets an Update

In a digital era where data privacy underpins brand trust, organizations aim to not only comply with privacy laws but to fully embody them. TrustArc’s Nymity Privacy Management Accountability Framework (PMAF), pioneered in 2012 and continuously evolving, now includes advanced provisions for AI data privacy governance.

As the first of its kind, the Nymity PMAF has been setting the standard in privacy management, constantly adapting and evolving to meet dynamic changes in the global privacy environment.

Reflecting its commitment to staying at the forefront of privacy management solutions, this addition of AI governance ensures the Nymity PMAF remains the most comprehensive framework compared to other popular frameworks such as NIST, ISO 27001/2, etc.

In the 2023 TrustArc Benchmarks Report, a comparison of 13 different frameworks, certifications, and compliance standards revealed it achieved the highest Privacy Index competence scores. This insight in the report highlights Nymity PMAF’s effectiveness, having been battle-tested across industries around the globe and found to demonstrate superior success scores over more widely known frameworks.

Reflecting its longstanding value and recent advancements, the Nymity PMAF has been a staple on TrustArc’s website. It is freely available and popularly used by many organizations from start-ups to multinationals across the globe.

Transform Privacy Management with the Nymity PMAF

The Nymity PMAF is more than a tool. It is a comprehensive taxonomy for privacy programs, transforming the landscape of privacy management. It enables organizations to assess maturity, understand risk, identify Privacy Management Categories (PMCs) for each maturity level, and then operationalize a privacy program.

Nymity PMAF’s comprehensive nature seamlessly incorporates elements from other privacy frameworks into its structure, making it an ideal choice for creating a flexible, framework-neutral privacy program.

With its roots firmly planted in the principle of accountability, it encourages organizations to foster an ongoing conversation about privacy. Grounded in global principles and guidelines, it provides a practical guide for implementing privacy programs by establishing scalable procedures and workflows that adapt to the broad array of international regulations.

AI Data Privacy Governance

A significant enhancement to the Nymity PMAF is its expanded focus on AI data privacy governance. This update introduces two new Privacy Management Activities (PMAs) designed to ensure AI systems are developed and utilized with privacy at their core. These additions emphasize the development of AI in a manner that is transparent, accountable, and devoid of discrimination.

By integrating privacy considerations directly into the AI Software Development Life Cycle and establishing comprehensive policies for algorithmic accountability, the PMAF empowers organizations to conduct detailed algorithmic and AI impact assessments. This forward-looking approach ensures that AI technologies align with stringent privacy standards, fostering trust and compliance in an increasingly AI-driven world.

At its core, the Nymity PMAF harmonizes with key privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, addressing the operational concerns of large clients who can be tempted to use other disparate operational tools. Some organizations use the Nymity Framework to show due diligence to regulators to demonstrate accountability. For example in the event of a data breach, it can be used to demonstrate that the event was an exception that occurred despite a robust program in place to prevent it, as opposed to a systemic issue.

Unique to the Nymity PMAF is its highly regarded taxonomy, a cornerstone for privacy programs. Within TrustArc’s PrivacyCentral, an organization can measure maturity and use the Nymity PMAF as a baseline and for benchmarking.

The 13 Privacy Management Categories of the Nymity PMAF

The Nymity PMAF’s 13 Privacy Management Categories (PMCs) span 130+ privacy activities and tasks – all of which are comprehensive and industry-neutral and work with any new or mature privacy program. The utility of this approach is evident in the meticulously outlined PMCs which break down privacy management’s complexity into actionable segments.

The 13 Accountability Mechanisms are as follows:

1. Maintain Governance Structure
2. Maintain Personal Data Inventory and Data Transfer Mechanisms
3. Maintain Internal Data Privacy Policy
4. Embed Data Privacy Into Operations
5. Maintain Training and Awareness Program
6. Manage Information Security Risk
7. Manage Third-Party Risk
8. Maintain Notices
9. Respond to Requests and Complaints from Individuals
10. Monitor for New Operational Practices
11. Manage Data Privacy Breach Management Program
12. Monitor Data Handling Practices
13. Track External Criteria.

These categories enable companies to: a) incorporate a privacy-by-design approach into their product development and data lifecycles and, b) to take a risk-based approach in assessing their processing activities. These PMCs break down the complexity of privacy management into digestible, actionable segments. Such granularity reflects TrustArc’s deep understanding that effective privacy management is a tapestry of actions, each pivotal in crafting a robust and right-sized privacy program.

Regulations and the Nymity PMAF

The Framework is strategically designed to assist companies in identifying areas of “high risk,” which is particularly important in light of regulations like the GDPR. The GDPR is recognized as a risk-based regulation, emphasizing the need for organizations to focus on high risk data processing activities. Risk-based approaches carry over into new AI regulations that impact privacy.

One key aspect of determining high risk in the context of the GDPR, similar regulations, and new AI regulations, is the purpose for which personal data is processed. The Framework provides comprehensive guidance to help companies categorize and understand these high-risk processing activities, enabling them to take appropriate measures to manage and mitigate these risks effectively.

The Global Applicability of the Framework

TrustArc’s PrivacyCentral software stands as a vital component in the practical application of the PMAF. This innovative product enables clients to effectively map and measure their privacy practices against the Framework’s standards. Through its Attestation feature, organizations can conduct self-audits, assessing their readiness for privacy standards and the maturity of their privacy programs, while focusing limited resources on areas of need. Complementing this is TrustArc’s Nymity Research which provides access to Operational Templates to help understand and employ the Nymity PMAF.

The global applicability of the PMAF is one of its most defining features. The framework has been meticulously mapped to over 800 privacy laws, international privacy frameworks, guidelines, and regulations across the world. This extensive alignment with diverse legal requirements ensures that PMAF is a foundational tool for achieving compliance with multiple obligations simultaneously. Such comprehensive coverage ensures that organizations can confidently use the framework to navigate the complexities of international privacy laws, making their privacy management practices not just locally compliant but globally proficient.

Elevate Your Data Privacy Practices with the Nymity PMAF

TrustArc’s end-to-end privacy management platform stands out as a robust ecosystem that automates privacy management with operational effectiveness. The TrustArc approach ensures that privacy management is not an isolated function but a seamless part of the business workflow, offering reporting and benchmarking for strategic alignment.

In conclusion, TrustArc’s Nymity PMAF is much more than a framework; it is a comprehensive guide for privacy programs regardless of current maturity. It acts as a catalyst for change, steering organizations towards a future where data privacy is ingrained as a core business value. This framework not only bridges the gap between privacy policies and principles but also ensures their effective implementation.

Given its proven track record, comprehensive approach, and up-to-date AI features, the Nymity PMAF warrants consideration as a primary privacy management tool versus other options such as NIST or ISO frameworks.

As we navigate a digital era where data privacy is integral to brand trust, TrustArc’s Nymity PMAF emerges as an essential blueprint. It empowers businesses to elevate their data privacy practices, ensuring that privacy is not merely a compliance requirement but a fundamental aspect of organizational integrity and customer trust.

Great, You’re Compliant! Now What?

Compliance with data protection regulations doesn’t make the company privacy focused. If you’ve established a privacy program foundation based on compliance, it’s time to take the next step and maximize your data protection program.

Data protection and privacy aren’t just things to do to keep regulators off the company’s back. There are real people behind the data and numbers. When organizations take data protection seriously beyond compliance, it demonstrates to consumers that the business values their trust.

Companies are now stewards of people’s personal information. That’s a massive responsibility. If handled with care, it can deepen your relationship with consumers and vendors. But if this information is mistreated, some may never forgive the business.

And you won’t just lose customers. Data protection is critical up and down the entire supply chain. Vendors and other business partners are paying close attention to your data protection practices.

While compliance is very important, TrustArc’s 2022 Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey demonstrates that keeping brand trust is the most important reason to take data privacy seriously.

You must get the entire organization on board to maximize your data protection program. Privacy focused companies are formed because everyone understands how data protection drives business value. It’s embedded into the company’s DNA.

5 Ways to Improve a Data Privacy Program

If your organization is ready to move beyond privacy law compliance and start putting privacy first, implement these five tips to improve your data protection program.

#1 Triple Check Your Data Inventory

If your business has a privacy program, it most likely has a data inventory. It’s nearly impossible to comply with data protection regulations like the GDPR or manage data subject requests under California’s privacy laws without one. But a data inventory isn’t something you can do once and file away.

Your data inventory is a snapshot in time – but your organization’s data processes aren’t. Business functions are continuously changing how they capture and use data. It’s necessary to revisit your data inventory and revisit it often to keep up with changes.

An updated data inventory is one of the most important pieces in your privacy program. It contains every source of data (internal and external), what type of data is collected and where it’s stored, where it’s used and shared, and how it’s used and shared. A complete data inventory will include every business partner, affiliate, and third party (vendors) that can access systems or your data.

In most organizations, there’s more data than anyone knows what to do with, and often duplicate data across different databases. Once a data inventory and map are documented, it becomes easier to simplify processes to improve how data flows in and out of the organization and better manage the risk of privacy incidents.

Maximize your data inventory and map to drive business value.

• Reduce duplication across information systems and databases.
• Identify overlaps between functions and simplify the flow of information.
• Implement automation technology to integrate, migrate, and organize data into a centralized inventory with scheduled updates.
• Develop dashboards to monitor how business functions and third parties process data and the risks associated with that processing.
• Dedicate resources to reducing the highest risk areas to enable cross-border data flows and support innovation inside the business.

#2 Go on a Data Minimization Mission

Data Lakes. Big Data. Business Intelligence. Data Analytics. Data Science. Everyone everywhere is focused on getting more value from data.

But the best way to extract more value from your data is to understand what information is most relevant. Businesses don’t need more data to innovate. They need to understand how to better use the information they collect for business intelligence efforts. And a well maximized data protection program will do just that.

The first step in data analysis is to define the project clearly. A well-defined problem statement or goal of the analysis is necessary to discover critical insights that drive innovation. Often, only a subset of the data businesses collect is used. And data scientists spend most of their time cleaning and trimming datasets before ever beginning predictive analysis.

Privacy teams and business analytics teams can work together to reduce the amount of information that is collected and stored. Only collecting data that is absolutely necessary for business functions can drastically reduce your risk and simplify your data privacy program.

The hype around big data and machine learning leads many to wrongly believe that more data is better. But rather than more data, focus on collecting the highest quality data possible with permission from the data subject. And work across the business to stop collecting unnecessary data.

#3 Invest in Automated Capabilities

Maintaining a current data inventory, responding to data subject requests, and mapping compliance against data privacy regulations takes incredible resources. After you’ve developed a manual foundation for your data protection program, including privacy notices, policies, and documenting each department’s data processes, implementing automation improves business workflows.

Privacy Impact, Data Transfer, and Data Protection Impact Assessments become easier with automated workflows and without passing spreadsheets back and forth between departments. When combined with TrustArc intelligence, those assessments can transform into risk analysis and monitoring dashboards.

And that pesky data inventory that keeps changing, you can automate those data flow map updates too. Knowing where your data lives and flows is critical for responding to data subject requests.

How can you decide which automation solutions are worth your resources?

First, record how your time is spent over 1-2 weeks.

• Which tasks are you devoting most of your time to?
• Which tasks are the most important?
• What are things you would like to get to but can’t find the time for?

Look for automation solutions that can reduce the items you spend most of your time on so that you can spend your resources on more important tasks that have been on the back burner.

Also, consider the risk associated with each activity. Where should you spend your time to best mitigate risk for the data subjects and the company, and what can be done to reduce that risk through automation?

The GDPR, CCPA as amended by the CPRA, LGPD, and other privacy regulations mandate that organizations must be able to provide personal information collected on consumers when requested. And complying with these individual rights requests can get complicated. Depending on the regulation, response processes and the required timelines for response vary.

As the business grows, the number of these requests could become extensive. Taking in these requests, making sure they reach the correct parties, finding accurate information, and replying to all within the designated time frame doesn’t have to be a logistical nightmare.

Automation of data subject requests fulfillment speeds up your response times, simplifies your processes, and reduces effort and costs, all while building consumer confidence. Centralize data subject requests across your teams and vendors to easily fulfill these tasks in one portal with TrustArc’s Individual Rights Manager.

#4 Give Consumers Control of their Data

These days, brands are trying to reach customers in any way possible. Furthermore, companies share consumer information with their partners and vendors, who also send marketing messages. Although data use and sharing are often needed for legitimate business purposes, it’s also sometimes abused.

In some cases, people are growing tired of the constant parade of marketing messages and advertisements everywhere they turn. And this isn’t surprising, considering Americans receive an average of 10,000 marketing messages daily.

This marketing fatigue causes people to tune out your message, even though it might be highly relevant to them. As a result, they may even decide to block your email or communication attempts. Letting consumers control their communication preferences builds trust and can reduce the number of people who would otherwise block or ignore your brand completely.

Additionally, putting control in your customer’s hands can help you better manage data subject requests and reporting to comply with GDPR and CCPA. The best example of putting customers in control is a consumer facing portal where they can see what information the business has about them and make changes to communication preferences and consent.

Rather than clicking unsubscribe, preference centers allow customers to select which messages they want. Some brands divide their message categories into topics or industries. Some divide them by message type, such as product updates, marketing, etc. People value transparency, but trust is built when organizations follow through on their promises. If a customer updates their consent, their decision must be respected.

Maximize your data protection program with a customized, customer facing preference center with TrustArc’s Consent and Preference Manager and streamline preference collection across all brand touchpoints while distributing that information to your entire marketing tech stack.

#5 Develop an Annual Privacy Training Plan

As a baseline, many companies send out an annual privacy or security training which usually covers the basics like don’t share login information and how to recognize phishing. But privacy training should go beyond a once-a-year compliance exercise.

And it’s not enough to try to cover privacy during employee onboarding. New hires are already being exposed to tons of new information. Privacy training needs to happen when it can be retained. Although your company might think you’ve covered privacy training enough already, think again.

The majority of companies revealed there is still much to be done when it comes to sufficient privacy training. Only 20% of full-time employees outside the privacy office believe they’re sufficiently trained in privacy matters. And 78% of privacy team members also believe they still need more sufficient training in privacy matters.

To fix this in your organization, incorporate a regular cadence of fun, privacy training sessions for all employees into your data protection program.

• Work with function leads to identify specific departments and topics that need tailored data protection training.
• Create a slack channel dedicated to privacy where people can share news articles and insights about trends in data protection, enforcement, and emerging innovations to keep privacy in mind and demonstrate its real-world context.
• Encourage and sponsor memberships to organizations such as the International Association of Privacy Professionals and external development opportunities that will increase data protection knowledge.
• Share the social media profiles of active thought leaders in the privacy space so other employees can follow them and learn from their content.
• Plan an internal communication strategy using short, frequent reminders of how data protection leads to business value.

To help employees unfamiliar with privacy understand how it applies to individuals and the data the organization collects, explain privacy in personal terms. Use them as the example of the data subject and ask how they would feel if their information was used without their consent.

Most can easily understand privacy once they put themselves in customers’ shoes. And that’s what privacy is really all about, after all. The people.

Why Privacy Program Metrics?

Measuring the effectiveness of your privacy program isn’t just a nice thing to do. It’s necessary if you want adequate resources and talent to ensure your program’s success. In some cases, it’s even required. But more importantly, the lack of an effective privacy program can kill business deals with partners, vendors, and suppliers.

Only 14% of organizations in our 2022 Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey said they do not measure the effectiveness of their privacy programs. Among companies ranging from $50 million annual revenue to those over $5 billion, 83% measure privacy. By contrast, only 39% of smaller companies under $50 million in annual revenue measure privacy effectiveness. As a result, Privacy Index scores were much lower for those who didn’t measure.

Beyond record keeping and due diligence, measurement enhances accountability and provides decision makers with information to drive change. Some organizations even view privacy as an essential contributor to innovation and business value.

The Cisco 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study found 36% of organizations are getting returns at least twice their spending, with many even realizing returns over three to five times their investments. The study also found the estimated dollar value of a privacy program’s benefits is $2.7 to $3.4 million overall – even up to $4 million for the largest organizations.

Keep in mind support for your privacy program depends on your ability to communicate its business value to executives, board members, and other critical stakeholders. If you’re just starting, use what you have to establish a baseline to strive for and improve from there.

Seven Keys and Five Privacy Program Outcomes that Matter

To measure privacy program effectiveness, reflect on why you established the program. What does the organization hope to accomplish? This was likely already translated into a strategy and goals for the privacy program. Thus, your privacy program metrics should align with the existing goals.

TrustArc annually measures how organizations are approaching and measuring privacy. Our statistical modeling results in 12 items that are key to measuring privacy at all levels within enterprises.

7 Keys to Privacy:

1. Having the Board of Directors regularly review and discuss privacy matters.
2. Pursuing privacy as a core part of business strategy.
3. Making sure privacy permeates daily business decisions with great importance.
4. Embracing privacy practices as a key differentiator.
5. Being mindful of privacy as a business.
6. Ensuring every employee can formally raise a privacy issue with confidence that there will be no reprisal.
7. Sufficiently training employees in privacy matters.

5 Privacy Outcomes that Matter:

1. Confidence your company can keep all employees’ and customers’ relevant data secure and protected.
2. Confidence your customers/clients have in your management of data privacy.
3. Confidence your employees have in your management of data privacy.
4. Confidence your partners/third parties have in your management of data privacy.
5. Confidence the general public has in your management of data privacy.

Examples of outcomes achieved by privacy programs were also mentioned in the Cisco study:

• Meeting corporate and legal policy compliance requirements
• Avoiding fines, penalties, breaches, loss of trust or reputation
• Protecting the brand value, vendor trust, and employee and customer data
• Necessary controls implemented throughout the business
• An improvement plan based on your privacy lifecycle to build a sustainable approach to privacy management
• How Businesses Measure and Evaluate Privacy Programs

There are a variety of methods and privacy program metrics used to evaluate effectiveness demonstrated by the 2022 Global Benchmark Data. The most popular method is privacy audit assessments, while the most popular KPI is the completion rates of privacy impact assessments (PIAs).

Aside from privacy assessments, another organization measured their cost of compliance with privacy laws and audits to determine the ROI of investing in their privacy program. They discovered their investment in a privacy program paid for itself in less than six months. And there was a 5-week reduction in the time it took to comply with privacy laws.

Besides saving time, they also saved money. With a 126% return on investment, Forrester estimates that this organization reduced costs by $3.74 million through its privacy program.

What Privacy Program Metrics Can You Use?

Because almost every business function has a role to play in terms of data protection and privacy, measures will be quantitative and qualitative. The exact metrics needed will depend on the business. However, there are several categories you can use to develop your program metrics.

The International Association of Privacy Professionals recommends the following categories.

• Individual Rights
• Training and Awareness
• Commercial
• Accountability
• Privacy Stewards
• Policy

Within each category, there are many measures your organization may want to adopt. But try to focus on the measures you need to inform goal progress and effectiveness of your program. Too many metrics will leave people confused. Find the right balance based on the metrics you need for compliance and to show the program’s value.

Individual Rights

Metrics in the individual rights category measure how well your organization protects personal data and how much trust people have in your privacy program. Individual rights are granted to people through data protection laws such as the GDPR and CCPA as amended by the CPRA. These include the right to access, delete, or change their information or consent permissions.

Not recording these privacy program metrics could result in non-compliance with regulations. This list is not exhaustive, but here are the metrics that fall into the individual rights category:

• The number of data subject access requests (DSAR) received, closed, and in progress
• The average duration of open DSAR
• The average response time for DSAR
• The number of individuals satisfied with the result of DSAR
• Consumer consent denial and approval rates for cookies, processing activities, data sharing and selling, and email marketing
• The number of privacy breaches
• The number of customers impacted by privacy breach
• Mean times to discover privacy incidents or breaches and the mean times to resolve incidents or breaches
• General privacy complaints and queries

Training and Awareness

A privacy program is only as good as the privacy awareness of your employees. Many functions across the organization frequently handle data, and each needs to understand privacy issues and why data protection is paramount. This category measures your culture of privacy and assists in identifying gaps in employee privacy knowledge and can inform future training activities.

Training and awareness privacy program metrics to consider:

• • The number of privacy training sessions offered and attendees
  • Staff engagement rate with privacy program
  • The percent of employees trained in privacy
  • The number of individual privacy certifications obtained

Commercial

Commercial metrics measure how your privacy program impacts business revenue and supports priorities. Closing deals today often requires transparency around your data processing and protection policies and procedures. Up and down the value chain, other businesses need assurances your company won’t be a weak link in their security and privacy programs.

Again, this list is not exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea of commercial privacy program metrics to track:

• • The number of
    • data processing agreements negotiated and closed with customers
    • data processing agreements negotiated and closed with vendors
    • vendor privacy reviews or risk assessments completed, in process, and planned, and the results
    • vendor privacy compliance issues, severity, status, and time to resolve
    • data sharing agreements
    • privacy due diligence requests for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), time to complete due diligence, and remediation actions identified.
  • The percent of agreements that include privacy language in the contract
  • Privacy compliance attestation requests completed and timeframe to completion

Accountability

These metrics help to measure your program’s ability to comply with global data protection laws. In many cases, items in this list are required by regulations such as the EU GDPR. Additionally, in the case of a privacy incident, this record can demonstrate your due diligence and efforts to comply.

Within this category are several subcategories of metrics, including your Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs), Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), Transfer Impact Assessments (TIAs), Data Mapping and Records of Processing Activities (ROPAs), and notices to consumers and employees.

Document:

• • All privacy policies and procedures and when they were last updated
  • All privacy notices to consumers and employees and when they were last updated
  • All projects and products privacy has provided input towards
    • Marketing activities
    • HR activities
    • New services
    • New products
  • The number of regulator inquiries, the type, and status
  • Total number of data inventories

Metrics for your assessments and processing activities include:

• • The number of
    • PIAs, DPIAs, and TIAs completed and time to complete
    • identified high risk data processing activities requiring a DPIA
    • vendor questionnaires
    • applications that require data mapping, the number mapped, the percent of required applications not mapped, and the total of completed ROPAs.
    • privacy compliant apps processing personal information
  • The status and number of compliance monitoring audit activities

Privacy Stewards

Privacy stewards enable privacy across the organization. They are responsible for bringing policies to life. In addition to building a culture of privacy and understanding the importance of protecting personal information, these metrics help to ensure compliance with regulations.

Across each product team, track, the number of

• personal information management systems and their privacy status
• DPIAs supported
• rules of procedure supported
• department personal data use requests
• cross-functional privacy projects
• DSARs supported
• department-specific privacy training sessions
• data privacy awareness and communications created

Policy

Depending on your geographic location, this category could be highly relevant. As bills are discussed and passed, regulators often open requests for comments and feedback. Not every company will engage in legislative work with regulators. But if you do, you should record the bills you monitor, new laws and their status, and investor rating agency scores.

Privacy Program Metrics Improve Efficiency

Privacy programs are increasingly seen as an asset to organizations rather than a mere compliance activity. Measuring the effectiveness of your program helps you avoid damage to the organization’s reputation and reduce legal liabilities. Furthermore, by using privacy program metrics, you have a clear path to improve your current policies and procedures.

The competition between brands today for consumer and employee loyalty is fierce. Your privacy program can give your organization an edge over its competition by demonstrating it takes privacy seriously. And you’ll have the numbers to back it up.

To an extent, the processing of personal data is necessary to carry out business operations. But as the volumes of data collected and shared continue to increase, businesses need a robust data protection program to keep that information private and secure.

A data protection program supports your organization’s effort to comply with data protection regulations and increases collaboration across business functions. When done correctly, data protection increases the value and quality of the data you collect and store. It also plays a key role in your business’s consumer relationship.

To effectively build trust through a data protection program, a company must execute its promises when collecting people’s information. These promises are reflected in the privacy policy and the notice given to individuals when the information is collected. If these promises are broken, the brand’s reputation is negatively affected, taking years to mend.

Should a business build a data protection program if not required by a privacy law?

Even if your business doesn’t operate in one of the five states that will begin enforcing data privacy laws in 2023, other generally applicable state and federal privacy and security provisions will likely affect you.

For example, the Federal Trade Commission mandates that U.S. companies handling consumer information must implement reasonable and appropriate safeguards to protect personal data. Others include HIPAA, CAN-SPAM, state and federal “Do Not Call” laws, and various breach notification laws.

Furthermore, the odds that a data protection regulation doesn’t protect your consumers become smaller yearly. In Weaponizing Privacy, Nader Henein, Gartner Analyst, explains,

“By 2024, modern privacy regulation will blanket the majority of consumer data, but less than 10% of organizations will have successfully weaponized privacy as a competitive advantage. By 2026, the fastest-growing organizations in each consumer-facing industry will have successfully weaponized privacy rather than simply adapted to regulatory mandates.”

If you want your organization to “weaponize privacy” in the next three years, you’ll want to watch out for these common data protection program pitfalls as you get started.

Five Data Protection Program Pitfalls to Avoid

Given legal implications, building a data protection program can be intimidating. Here are five areas many companies miss the mark.

#1 Not Giving Data Protection a Seat at the Executive Table

No matter how much you spend on outside privacy counsel or the flashiest privacy technology, your data protection program will fall short without an executive champion. Simply checking the boxes won’t create a culture of privacy in your organization. And a culture of privacy is necessary for business success in a digitally powered world that thrives on data.

The notion that data protection and privacy are the responsibilities of legal or IT departments is a myth. Protecting the information a business collects is everyone’s job. After all, many functions collect and use data for business activities.

A privacy champion is willing to collaborate and empower internal business teams while ensuring data protection requirements are met. Even more, the privacy champion supports collaboration between functions to achieve company and data protection goals.

Building a culture of privacy takes time. More importantly, executives must prioritize it as an essential business function.

Organizations with a culture of privacy have embedded data protection into their company mission, values, and strategy. Consequently, employees consider privacy when products and services are built or enhanced and at any time decisions are made.

Not training all employees about data security and protection is another pitfall with an easy fix. Everyone in your organization should understand the basic data protection principles and always remember that real people are behind all those numbers.

The GDPR outlines seven key principles of data protection:

• Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimization
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability

As a privacy champion, if you can help your organization embed these seven principles into its company culture, you’ll avoid pitfall #1.

#2 Lack of Legal Privacy Intelligence

Although foundational principles for data protection, privacy, and transfer guidelines have existed since the 1980s, the industry has a shortage of talented employees. As a result, privacy teams can be vastly understaffed or resourced, leaving the organization and the data it promises to protect open to risk.

While you don’t need all employees on your privacy team to be lawyers, you need people who understand the laws and regulations. Whether you hire inside or outside counsel, partnering with a legal resource is necessary.

The biggest trap within this pitfall is mistaking technology for privacy intelligence. Granted, technology can increase collaboration and reduce the time and effort spent building a privacy program, but it won’t replace the need for a privacy expert.

The cost of privacy talent and external counsel continues to increase. Don’t try to build a data protection program without a reliable, experienced solution for legal privacy intelligence.

#3 Reacting to Data Protection Laws and Regulations

A common reaction to the multitude of global data protection laws is to attempt compliance with each, one by one. Essentially, repeating the same process over and over to check off the boxes in a specific region.

Considering that at least 137 countries have data protection laws, this method feels endless. That’s because it’s reactive, and there’s always something to react to in privacy.

Avoid this pitfall by implementing a proactive approach to data protection. Select a data protection framework that can be applied to your program overall.

For example, some professionals prefer to apply the GDPR to all of their data protection processes. Then, when new laws are introduced, there are likely only small deviations from the GDPR standards required for compliance. The structure or framework you choose doesn’t need to be the GDPR, although it’s a great starting point.

Ultimately, a reactionary approach to privacy will always leave you chasing your tail. Good data protection programs are proactive and reduce your privacy team’s effort and stress.

#4 Treating Data Privacy as a Burden Rather than a Way to Add Value

There are two ways you can look at privacy. One is that it’s a cost center without an important business function. And the other is that privacy is another way to create value, adding to the business’s bottom line.

If privacy is treated as a burden, the organization misses opportunities to build consumer trust and establish an advantage over competitors. Time and effort are spent on compliance rather than how to use privacy to enable innovation.

As we shift to explicit consent requirements, data the organization collects directly from the subject (first party data) quickly becomes the most valuable. Data collected with consent drive better customer experiences, services, and products. And just like a spinning wheel, this cycle repeats itself driving business momentum and customer loyalty.

Apple has become a notorious example of how a brand can use data protection and privacy to its advantage. They’ve made privacy part of the conversation and a primary marketing strategy. It’s not only a star feature of their products. It’s also a value embedded into their company culture.

One way to be more like Apple is to put privacy controls back into consumers’ hands. Tools are available to help provide your consumers and partners direct access to the data you collect and options to change what and how that information is used. It’s possible to include privacy policies, notices, data subject requests management, and communication preferences in the same interface. Consumers love transparency and the opportunity to control their information.

If you treat data privacy like a burden – that’s surely what it will become. Avoid this pitfall and change your mindset about privacy before your competitors beat you to it.

#5 Making Compliance the Only Data Protection Priority

There’s more to data protection than compliance. Assessments, audits, and compliance with each regulation are all critical, but they’re not why we do data privacy. Protecting data is the right thing to do for everyone.

Like above, if you view data protection as merely a compliance must-do, you’re working harder and missing valuable opportunities. In contrast, successful privacy programs are created using a risk based approach.

Building a risk based privacy program requires a strategic approach to managing and protecting data aligned with business processes. To summarize, this approach requires four steps:

• Assess the current state and your privacy program requirements
• Identify your current compliance level and risk
• Prioritize and mitigate risk
• Establish response procedures and strategies for ongoing compliance monitoring

Establishing a culture of privacy is also helpful here, as you will need governance and agreed upon definitions for data ethics and data processing to align with company values and risk appetite.

When selecting a data privacy automation software for your business, you want to make the right choice. But considering how fast the data privacy industry has grown, it’s likely your first time purchasing software for this purpose.

With the rapid advancement of IoT, Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), comes the need for greater data responsibility. And regulations are quickly catching up to these new technologies, increasing the need for better privacy programs and data security.

Building a privacy program that minimizes risk to the data subject and your organization requires resources and powerful technology to keep up with the pace of data collection, processing, and requests.

How Do You Know if a Privacy Automation Software Will Meet Your Needs?

Before deciding on the right privacy software, you must understand your business requirements for data privacy.

For example, are there State, Federal, International, or industry-specific regulations that your company must comply with? What types of data are you collecting, processing, or sharing, and what is the risk associated with that information?

Some industries come with greater risks to personal information than others. Especially companies and services that collect health, financial, or other personal information to conduct their operations.

36% of organizations use an open-source solution or spreadsheets and shared documents to start building a privacy program. Trying to scale these solutions usually results in misery, errors, and inconsistency for the privacy team.

It’s at this point that companies start looking for some type of privacy automation software solution. But, before you do, check out these do’s and don’ts of selecting privacy automation software.

What to Do When Selecting Privacy Automation Software

Do Get the Right People Involved

Privacy isn’t the job of a General Counsel, a Chief Privacy Officer, or the Chief Information Security Officer alone. If your company collects data about people, privacy is a part of everyone’s job. In fact, in today’s data-centric world, Heads of Marketing, Strategy, and Data Science are often heavily involved in the privacy technology solution decision.

Before you start researching privacy tech solutions, there are two internal tasks that you should focus on. 

• Gather a detailed list of the business functions and their specific requirements to use, process, share, or collect data.
• Outline every business process the potential privacy technology will need to align with to satisfy all requirements you listed in the first task.
  • If you haven’t already, at this stage, it’s beneficial to create a high level data map to best understand how data flows in and out of your organization. However, some privacy technology solutions come with this capability.

Understanding the specific requirements and business processes is essential if you want a privacy automation software that will scale with your company. Depending on the nature of your organization, where it’s located, and who your customers and partners are, the people and functions involved in the decision can vary greatly.

Some roles and functions to consider include:

• Information Technology
• Cybersecurity
• Legal Counsel
• Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations
• Information Governance and Risk Management
• Business Strategy, Operations, and Data Intelligence
• Sales and Customer Service
• Human Resources

Data is often used heavily in these functional areas to influence strategy, make decisions, and carry out key daily business functions such as marketing, sales, and customer service. Identify the stakeholders with data privacy interests in your organization and involve them early in the privacy technology selection process.

Do Ensure the Laws and Regulations You Need are Included in the Software

Data privacy has become a complex web of regulations regionally and globally. Mix industry into the equation, and the complexity increases. Now add in quickly advancing technology such as IoT and AI, and the potential for new regulations becomes endless.

When vetting privacy automation software, ask which regulations are included and how often new regulations are added. Some privacy technology solutions may be more tailored to specific regions or industries.

Examine your business strategy. Which regions will you expand to? Industries? Will this be covered with the potential solution? Will it automatically identify privacy laws and standards that apply to your company?

The global privacy regulation landscape is anything but stagnant. And you not only need to keep up with the regulations, but you also need to know how if your current practices are enough to comply with new regulations fully. The best privacy automation software will intuitively analyze gaps between your current privacy program and existing regulations.

The more customers you plan to serve, the more important it is to know the regulations you must comply with and how they change. Otherwise, noncompliance with privacy laws can cost your company millions in fines.

At a minimum, the solution you select needs a strong privacy regulation roadmap. With hundreds of privacy regulations across the globe, this isn’t an area you want to skimp due diligence.

Beyond the sheer number of regulations alone are the intricacies of each regulation. For example, some regulations require privacy assessments (and, therefore, data inventories) to be conducted.

Great privacy automation software moves beyond regulations to include essentials for a privacy program. Ask potential solutions providers about privacy and data protection assessments, templates, automatic data inventory population for assessments, GDPR Article 30 reporting capabilities, data subject rights management, and website compliance audits.

Essentially, you’ll want a tool to plan and structure your entire privacy program in one place.

Do Know Which Connections and Integrations You Require

Data has become central to business operations because of its incredible value when well-harnessed. Contrary to popular belief, data protection doesn’t limit the potential value of data. It increases it.

Purchasing, sharing, processing, or using data that doesn’t comply with privacy regulations is a ticking bomb for your organization. It can cost you in fines, loss of trust and customers, and even lead you in the wrong strategic direction. At the very least, it will take a strenuous effort to get that data to a usable state.

Data collected in compliance with privacy regulations is far more valuable than data that violates privacy laws. The transparent use and collection of data builds trust with stakeholders and provides valuable insights that can be relied upon.

To extract data’s value, you’ll want to find privacy software that can connect with common technologies such as Application Programming Interface (API), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Tag Management Systems, and other Marketing, Website, or Customer Success tools you currently use.

Include outlining desired connections and integrations that will be needed from all stakeholders in your privacy automation software selection process.

Do Select a Software that Can Grow with Your Business

You have big plans for your company and privacy isn’t going away. You need software that can scale with your company and keep up with technology and privacy requirements.

Finding the right privacy automation software the first time can help you save big. Mainly because of switching costs. Getting a privacy program up and running takes time and effort. Employees need to learn how to use the software and get the information uploaded into the system.

If you decide to switch privacy automation software providers after your contract ends, you’ll incur all those costs of setting up a new software again. This is often referred to as switching costs – and it’s a primary reason customers stay locked into a product or service even if they aren’t happy.

As you vet different privacy products make sure you learn about their full suite of capabilities, not just what you need today.

Some privacy programs are built for specific purposes only, while others may span all information governance, data inventory and mapping, consent and preferences management, data subject access requests, and even security requirements.

However, don’t be oversold. If you don’t need every add-on a company is offering today, don’t be forced to buy more than you need.

What Not to Do When Selecting Privacy Automation Software

Don’t Assume Automation Will Do Everything

As AI and machine learning become more prevalent there are still misconceptions about what it can accomplish. Even the best privacy automation software needs to be properly set up to work “automatically”.

Expect to do work on the front end to upload your privacy policies and procedures into the software. You’ll also likely need to import existing data inventories, vendors, and records into the system.

One way that vendors can stand apart is in the level of service they provide to help you get started. Ask about the materials and support available to help integrate your existing processes and migrate data into the application.

Will there be any additional fees for onboarding, training, and implementation of the solution you select? Is there 24-hour support?

These are just a few questions you should consider. In general, it’s most helpful to have a clear understanding of what automation does before you assume it has magic powers.

Don’t Be Fooled by Introductory Pricing/Offers that Quickly Increase in the Years to Come

Remember those switching costs from earlier? Some companies may take those costs to a whole new level by offering low or nearly free introductory pricing and then significantly raising your rates in the years to come.

Pay close attention to any contracts and prices you agree to and ask about future costs. Transparency is highly valued in privacy and your vendors should embody the value of transparency as well. If not, take that as a red flag.

Don’t Select a Privacy Automation Software for Another Purpose

Selecting a dual-purpose software solution or one made for a reason other than managing a privacy program might sound good, or even come in at a better cost for your business. But research shows that the type of privacy software solution you adopt matters.

Organizations that adopted privacy management software among other choices scored the highest on TrustArc’s 2022 Global Privacy Index. Solutions such as Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) software, spreadsheets, emails, internally developed systems, and free or open source privacy software all fell short.

If your company is serious about building consumer trust, avoiding penalties and fines, and building a compliant privacy program, select a dedicated privacy automation software solution.

Don’t Buy a Solution that Doesn’t Help You Extract Value from Your Data

Organizations today are collecting all kinds of data. While some of it may be a special class of personal or sensitive data, other data can be used for all sorts of purposes.

As you search for the right privacy automation software, look for a provider that enables you to achieve your business outcomes through data. Using your list of business processes, determine: what outcomes does the company hope to achieve with data?

At a minimum, you need a solution that will have full data inventory, mapping, and management capabilities. This includes everything from your data lifecycles to building data inventory records for DPIAs, and the ability to configure information collected about each type of data.

You’ll also want to pay special attention to the ability to flag high-risk processes and data compliance risks such as sensitivity and geographic location.

Consent and Data Subject Requests (DSR) Management are Crucial Capabilities

The foundation of a complaint data privacy program lies within transparent communication between your business and its consumers. To use their information, you need their consent or permission. And consumers should be able to easily change or withdraw their consent through DSRs.

A complete privacy software solution will include a platform for consent and preference management as well as managing those data subject requests in a timely manner. You’ll want to find a solution that can assign tasks automatically around resolving DSRs, workflows, and access levels in addition to privacy law compliance.

Global laws and regulations heavily influence how consent and preferences are to be managed. This often has a major influence on how marketing, sales, and communications teams connect with their audience.

You need a solution that can automate privacy law compliance and help you manage your data in a profitable way. Be wary of solutions that focus on only one aspect of the data lifecycle. While they may be specialized, they may not help you achieve your business goals.

Take the Next Step to Automated Privacy Program Management

Explore our variety of privacy automation software solutions.

 

Whether you are looking for a certification or need to build a robust privacy program including assessments, customer consent and preference management, regulatory compliance, and data management, TrustArc provides the right solution to match your needs.

What is the Digital Services Act?

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is one of two regulations proposed by the European Commission in 2020 to provide a fairer, safer, and more open playing field in digital spaces across the EU.

It sets out new standards for online accountability when it comes to illegal and harmful content. It also imposes rules around how platforms moderate content, advertise, and use algorithmic processes. In essence, it’s making the internal processes of online platforms more transparent while allowing for more informed business decisions.

The DSA is only one piece of the EU’s digital strategy puzzle known as “A Europe fit for the Digital Age.” In addition, this strategy includes a series of legislations under the Digital Marketing Act and the Data Governance Act.

Together, they provide clearer and more standardized rules relating to consumer protection in the online environment and regulate how digital businesses comply with these rules. They also provide enhanced opportunities for digital businesses on a more level playing field.

The DSA comes in the wake of increased cyberbullying, hate speech, illegal content, and other harms committed online. It places responsibility firmly on digital service providers, big and small, to moderate content across the EU market. Companies must consider content removal and be proactive and transparent in moderation.

What Does the DSA Regulate?

The DSA regulates how platforms moderate content, how they remove illegal content – such as counterfeited and hazardous products – quickly, and how they crack down on users who spread misinformation. It also regulates how platforms advertise and how they use algorithms for recommendation systems.

The latter may have considerable implications for so-called “gatekeeper” companies. Gatekeepers are large online platforms that act as a major gateway between businesses and consumers. Among the platforms that fall into the gatekeeper category are Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft.

Under the DSA, they will be forced to show how their algorithms work in the EU.

Who Does the DSA Impact?

The DSA defines digital services as a large category of online services, from simple websites to internet infrastructure services and online platforms. This means the legislation applies to all platforms operating within the EU, big and small, and regardless of where the business was established.

Some of the types of digital services subject to the DSA legislation include:

• Online marketplaces
• Social networks
• Content-sharing platforms
• App stores
• Online travel platforms
• Accommodation platforms
• Intermediary services, such as internet providers and domain registrars
• Cloud and web hosting services
• Collaborative economy platforms
• Gatekeepers

How Does the DSA Impact Small Companies?

The legislation applies to all companies operating in the EU, big and small. It’s worth noting, however, that the level of obligations and type of enforcement is tailored to the role, size and impact of the online service provider on the online ecosystem.

According to the European Commission, there are more than 10,000 platforms operating in the EU, and 90% of these are small and medium enterprises. The commission recognizes that navigating the new rules of the DSA, along with the 27 different sets of national rules, can not only be an intimidating task for small businesses but also cost prohibitive.

This is why the DSA aims to ensure small online platforms are not disproportionately affected, but that they remain accountable.

What Do Companies Need to Consider When Preparing for the DSA?

There are a number of factors to keep in mind when preparing for DSA regulations to come into effect, including:

Content removal

The DSA states once a platform has been notified by “trusted flaggers” that illegal content exists, it must remove this content in a timely manner. There’s no specific timeline for content removal, but the DSA stipulates companies need to be prepared for quick removal. This means platforms need to have the right processes in place to comply.

In addition, platforms must inform consumers that content is being removed, while providing precise details on why it is being removed. Consumers can contest the removal of content via dispute resolution mechanisms in their own country.

Proactivity

As long as swift action is taken to remove content highlighted by trusted flaggers – as well as any illegal content platforms detect themselves – the DSA states platforms will not be liable for any unlawful behavior or illegal content posted by users.

This is to remove disincentives for companies to take voluntary measures to protect their users from illegal content, goods or services. It also aims to encourage platforms to be proactive when notified of flagged content, and to invest in robust content moderation practices.

Transparency and due diligence

Increased transparency is a theme that runs throughout the DSA. This relates to how to report illegal content, why content is being removed, how algorithms are used in recommending content, how advertising is targeted and much more.

When it comes to due diligence, providers of hosting services need to be aware of the requirement to report certain illegal behaviors. Online marketplaces have to do the same regarding the sale of illegal goods.

How Will the DSA Be Enforced?

The DSA applies across every member state of the EU. Enforcement is split between national regulators and the European Commission. The commission is primarily involved in enforcing obligations for large platforms and gatekeepers.

Fines for not adhering to DSA regulations reach up to 6% of the global turnover of a service provider.

When Does the DSA Come into Effect?

The DSA entered into force on November 16, 2022. The legislation applies fully to all relevant entities 15 months after entering into force: from February 17, 2024.

There are additional deadlines prior to this, however.

For example, online platforms have been asked to report the number of end users they have by February 17, 2023. The European Commission will use this information to determine which ones should be designated very large online platforms / search engines.

DSA obligations for very large online platforms and very large online search engines will apply four months after they have formally received this designation from the commission.

The Final Word on the DSA

First: it’s never too early to start preparing for the DSA.

Second: don’t despair!

The adoption of the DSA does not mean you have to go back to the drawing board – it’s designed to work with other in-place regulations around the digital space. Any previous efforts platforms have made to adjust to current data protection regulations or cybersecurity standards will not be in vain.

Consumer data and state privacy laws vary greatly and are constantly changing. It’s difficult for organizations to make sense of all the rules and regulations — which leaves many businesses unknowingly vulnerable to heavy regulatory fines.

State Privacy Laws Change Fast, Your Team is Struggling to Keep Up

Keeping up with the growing number of state privacy laws can be a daunting task for any organization — especially those with customers who reside in different states.

Many states develop custom laws specific to their citizens, and those laws constantly change on a variety of different legislative session timelines.

For teams in charge of implementing privacy procedures, this is a heavy burden. Efforts are often unnecessarily duplicated to comply with new laws, and business processes are completely disrupted to conform to legislative updates.

Most times, this leads to very time-consuming and expensive projects. Organizations often hire consultants specific to certain privacy laws or implement solutions to meet the control requirements in a single law.

Instead, we recommend a holistic approach to see where a single effort could knock out multiple state legislation requirements.

Save Time and Money With A Framework Approach

To sift through the chaos, it’s important to leverage the work that you’re doing to comply with one law to help you comply with others. This is called a framework approach.

TrustArc’s tools outline the specific state privacy laws that impact your business and stack them against each other to evaluate similarities and differences.

Every element of the legislation is included within TrustArc — there’s no need for your organization to hire a legislative expert internally.

From there, our tools guide your team to manage the laws cohesively — which is significantly easier than trying to tackle each as a one-off.

Plus, it prevents your team from accidentally overspending on implementing multiple solutions to tackle the same guidelines in multiple states.

So Many States, So Many Privacy Laws offers practical tips to keep all of this information straight so you don’t lose time or money.

Invest in the Right Technology

Managing this legislation is an ongoing process, as new state privacy laws are constantly being introduced. Technology tools can make the process of tracking those laws significantly easier.

Your team can receive automatic alerts  about new legislation that will impact your business, leaving you with plenty of time to prepare.

With a better sense of what is being introduced, and what is close to being passed, your team can update privacy practices accordingly. Well before the threat of any regulatory fine starts looming.

The Bottom Line  

With so much happening in the world of privacy legislation, it’s essential to have a solution that helps you know where you stand and know what you need to do.

With PrivacyCentral, have visibility into your business and privacy program with a solution that dynamically monitors state privacy laws so you don’t have to.