In today’s world, amongst humans, data shares a good-like characteristic: omnipresence. And as people become more conscious about how their data is dealt with, the need for concrete data protection and privacy frameworks that regulate corporate operations continue to grow.
Nowadays, there is an irresistible need for operationalizing data protection more than ever before in history, the implication being that companies set aside a substantial part of their budget to hire data security and compliance officers, whose main responsibility would be the development of efficient in-house data privacy and security guidelines.
With the several data protection laws, statutes, and regulations around, businesses are often faced with the challenges of how to infuse the various regulations into their corporate operations.
Well, here’s how to get started with the process:
- Creation of an assessment plan or roadmap: Businesses that deal in data and are focused on operationalizing data requirements, have to first start with an assessment process.
Through the assessment process, a business would be able to identify the legal classification of the type of data it collects, how it is currently protecting such data, the communication process between the business, its customers, and regulators regarding data, amongst others. The information gathered can then be used to identify gaps that need filling in order to be fully compliant with data protection requirements.
Just as well, the assessment helps in putting together an exhaustive roadmap that would detail resources needed, technologies required, cost implications for each step, plus the timeline for each of the steps.
Essentially, this assessment and road mapping process help to discover what’s amiss, effectively manage the current vacuum, protect the business operations from risk exposure, and plan towards data protection compliance.