As the threat landscape has become more perilous and complex, regulators have imposed a wide array of mandates designed to protect sensitive personal information. For most organisations, compliance is seen as the cost of doing business. However, if executed strategically it can not only improve a company’s overall security posture but shortens sales cycles and open the business to new markets.
In order to turn compliance from a check-the-box line item into a valued business initiative, businesses need to identify all global, local and industry regulations that apply to their business and, also, strategically implement the processes and technologies that keep them compliant. Whether you’re targeting specific industry or going after international customers, entering new markets requires continuous education about the latest in compliance and regulatory standards as they relate to data privacy and security.
A good way to get started is to put together a roadmap for how you will get, and stay, compliant with the regulations relevant to your business. What follows is an outline of such roadmap.
Start with the Basics
When you are building a house, a foundation is the key to a safe structure. This holds true for building a compliance roadmap.
Once the foundation has been set, it’s then time for the compliance, IT and security teams to determine which regulations apply to their business. This is the backbone of the compliance roadmap. The good news is that many of these regulations overlap so businesses can complete requirements for multiple regulations at the same time
The Roadmap Focal Point: GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) brought compliance into the mainstream. When GDPR passed, it established strict regulations for how organisations must handle customer data. The regulation is so broad, stringent and complicated that it has motivated many companies to create new job titles to ensure compliance.
However, while there have been strict compliance regulations before, it’s the high financial stakes attached to GDPR that set it apart. A business can be fined up to 4% of its global revenue if it’s found to be non-compliant. Very few organisations can afford to take that kind of hit which is why so many make it the centre piece to their compliance strategy.
The privacy implications of GDPR are extensive but one of the most important and challenging requirements is the data breach notification. Organisations must notify authorities or specific data subjects within 72 hours of a breach. Most organisations are unable to locate sensitive consumer information within their environment, making this requirement near impossible. However, if the organisation puts data controls into its systems and enacts continuous monitoring and real time intrusion detection, it not only becomes achievable but improves internal processes.
Compliance can be a powerful differentiator and business driver that inspire trust and confidence amongst prospects, customers and external partners. Although the above standards and regulations require extensive resources, non-compliance can result in fines and other punishment that can cripple a company. It’s important to remember that these compliance standards and regulations may have to be revisited, but once put into place and assigned to a dedicated compliance team; the once daunting task pays for itself.
For more information on how to meet your business compliance obligation get in touch with us on 08702281999 or contact us via info@stanleycarter.co.uk or further details on our website www.stanleycarter.co.uk.