What is Data Privacy Management Software? 

Before we learn about data privacy management software we have to understand what Data Privacy is. Data Privacy or Information privacy is a part of the data protection area that deals with the proper handling of data focusing on compliance with data protection regulations.

Data Privacy revolves around how data should be collected, stored, managed, and shared with any third parties, as well as compliance with the applicable privacy laws (such as California Consumer Privacy Act- CCPA or General Data Protection Regulation GDPR). 

Along with Data Security, Data Privacy creates a Data Protection area with protected usable data as an output. 

The proper handling of data isn’t the only focal point of data privacy, the public expectation of privacy, centering around the individual as a key figure is also of huge importance. 

The 3 Elements of Data Privacy 

Data Privacy has 3 main elements: 

• An individual’s right to have privacy and be in control of their personal data. 
• Procedures for proper handling, processing, collecting, and sharing of personal data. 
• Compliance with data protection laws. 

Why is Data Privacy important? 

The biggest reason companies should take data privacy seriously is to avoid large fines. The penalty for companies who don’t comply with these data privacy regulations can be ten million dollars or more. Organizations can even receive a 20-year penalty. 

However, there are many more reasons why you need to take data privacy seriously, not just because the law says so. 

Data breaches harm your business. 

There are certain legal requirements you must meet in order to comply with data privacy regulations. Implementing strong security safeguards to ensure the protection of data privacy is one of those requirements. 

When you take these necessary measures the threat of security breaches decreases exponentially. Which is fantastic since you won’t suffer a loss of revenue, 

With these measures, the number of security threats will significantly decrease, and your business won’t suffer a loss of revenue. The average total cost of a data breach is $8.19 million, which can be easily avoided with well-placed regulations. 

Protecting your customers’ privacy 

As mentioned before, a data breach can lead to theft of valuable customer information. This can negatively impact the data owners. A hacker can use all of that sensitive information to commit various crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud. 

Maintaining and improving brand value 

You need to avoid data breaches, as they can seriously damage a company’s reputation and brand value. When customers voluntarily give their data to companies, they expect it to be well-protected. If it’s not, customers will lose all trust they had in the company and brand, which will decrease brand value. 

It supports the code of ethics. 

Most organizations have a code of ethics in place. Even those who don’t have it follow at least certain ethical practices. Without this, they wouldn’t be able to stay in business. One of those policies states that confidential information needs to be handled responsibly and only used for business purposes. 

It gives you a competitive advantage. 

A lot of people are concerned about how their data is being used and handled. Last year, Pew found that 75% of Americans say there should be new regulations on what companies may do with personal data. Additionally, 70% of adults say their personal data is less secure than it was 5 years ago.   

If your business complies with data privacy regulations, this will give you a competitive advantage over companies that don’t take the matter as seriously. 

What are the legal definitions of Data Privacy? 

Although the GDPR was not the first privacy law, it was the most comprehensive and groundbreaking data protection law that reflected the new digital era in the way data is created and managed in modern everyday business processes. 

Regardless, GDPR nor other data protection bills like the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), gave a strict definition of what Data Privacy is. 

Data Privacy is not the same as Data Security. 

To properly protect data and comply with data protection laws, you need both Data Privacy and Data Security. The two terms may appear to mean the same thing but that isn’t the case. When you start to compare the two you realize just how different they are.  

Data Privacy definition 

Data Privacy focuses on the rights of individuals, the purpose of data collection and processing, privacy preferences, and the way organizations govern personal data of data subjects. 

It focuses on how to collect, process, share, archive, and delete the data in accordance with the law. 

Data Security definition 

Data Security includes a set of standards and different safeguards and measures that an organization is taking in order to prevent any third party from unauthorized access to digital data, or any intentional or unintentional alteration, deletion or disclosure of data. 

It focuses on the protection of data from malicious attacks and prevents the exploitation of stolen data (data breach or cyber-attack). It includes Access control, Encryption, Network security, etc. 

What is more important for your organization? 

Imagine that your company introduces elaborate data security methods using all the necessary means and available measures to protect data but has failed to collect that data on a valid lawful base. No matter the measures of securing your data, this would be a violation of data privacy. This example shows us that data security can exist without data privacy, but not the other way around. Therefore, data privacy management software is very important. 

What is Data Privacy Management Software? 

Data privacy management software provides comprehensive solutions for users to manage their company’s privacy program. Which includes replying to consumer requests or data subject requests (DSR/DSAR) and mapping sensitive data. Data privacy management software such as IBM OpenPages with Watson Data Privacy Management (DPM) is used to achieve and maintain compliance with privacy laws and regulations. Employees such as privacy managers are typical users of data privacy management software. However, these robust solutions offer workflows to allow other employees across the business, such as IT teams, to work collaboratively on consumer or DSR/DSAR requests for data access, amendment, or deletion. Businesses use data privacy management software to automate manual processes, provide visibility, and leverage reporting tools to manage their company’s privacy program. 

These platforms include a centralized dashboard and have modules related to DSR/DSAR management, data discovery, and data mapping. For data discovery, some software solutions offer automated data discovery methods, others may offer workflow to manage manual, survey-based data discovery methods, and some software providers may offer both manual and automated discovery methods. Many data privacy management software also has additional functionalities of identity verification software native within the application, privacy impact assessment (PIA) software, privacy policy generation tools, cookie and website tracking compliance, and data breach notification functions. 

Products in the data privacy management category often specialize in the specific country or region-specific data privacy regulation it supports. For example, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and others. 

Register for IBM’s Build your Business Case for Data Privacy on June 17th