Data Compliance for Ethics and Data Privacy: One of the essential facets of a data compliance framework is the ethics of maintaining user privacy. Healthcare, retail, finance, and other industries have regulations that define user privacy as sacred and foundational components of their operation.
Data Compliance for Individual Rights: Management of information for business purposes intersects with the rights of individuals to manage, control, and access their information. Different industries call for additional protection regulations based on other concepts of individual rights.
Data Compliance for Business Uses: Outside of data privacy from unauthorized disclosure, data compliance also intersects with proper business uses. While some data regulations are more rigorous than others, depending on where they have jurisdiction, many frameworks highlight how a business can use information and how it cannot. Some of these frameworks (like the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR]) also specify stringent guidelines for how long information can be used and under what circumstances.
Data Compliance for Consent: Following from the previous list item, consent is an integral part of compliance. Some frameworks require that you provide opt-out information for marketing or business use, while even more strict frameworks require that businesses get provable, documented consent.
How to ensure data compliance in an organization
Most organizations prioritize data governance to ensure data regulation compliance and other services, including reporting quality, improvement of operations, and improving customer experience. Although this strategy is essential, especially in ensuring data compliance, it becomes problematic, particularly when data governance is used as a standalone documentation-oriented initiative. In such a case, an organization may be tempted to create its unique business processes by applying its own tools. As a result, an organization may institutionalize its own data governance to such an extent that it may be rendered unreliable for day-to-day data operations.
Successful businesses approach data compliance in a holistic way. They embark on integrating data governance with a data management program that involves documentation of ownership, procedures, definitions, and policies to bolster data compliance.
Organizations should understand that their customers’ choice to use their products and services means they entrust the business with their information. It is the organization’s key responsibility to serve customers to the best level they can. By doing so, an organization ensures they use and secure their data responsibly and appropriately as intended.
To cultivate a culture of data compliance, organizations should develop an all-encompassing approach for reviewing services, operations, products, and processes to eliminate any compliance gaps. The organization’s ability to protect data while maintaining user access to real-time data should be a priority.
Data Security Compliant Training practice for organizational Effectiveness
Begin by establishing an effective team working “on the ground.” Ensure that all employees receive adequate training on data security and privacy. A basic place to start is by initiating basic training on GDPR compliance.
There are two forms of training to choose from:
customized training and specialized training. The latter may include targeted workshops and training sessions for a range of generic teams such as human resources, professional services, engineering, support staff, cloud services, finance, and marketing. Because every team has different access and uses for data, how they manage it will be different too.
Customized training, on the other hand, will help an organization handle any potential data compliance vulnerability that may lead to litigation, unnecessary costs, damage, and fines. This training is specialized to the industry and data use.
Don’t stop at training. Make sure that employees are continually reminded and equipped with knowledge through a corporate training curriculum. The urriculum ensures that the employees always comply with the standards and new regulations. Just-in-time training is part of this; as new situations and opportunities arise, provide the education needed to deal with all data-related issues.
Keep up with rapidly moving legislation
GDPR was introduced when there was a huge need for the largely unregulated data compliance industry. It was created to manage rampant data misuse that was often a precursor to fraud and online theft. GDPR came with new concepts and policies on individual data rights as well as data processing security. As data grows, so do concerns about its ethical use. Local and international legislation is constantly changing to try and catch up to this moveable feast.
As a result, organizations need to continually review internal policies and practices to ensure they are fit for purpose. Scheduling regular policy reviews gives companies an opportunity to improve on existing guidelines or create new ones.