Privacy management software is disrupting the data protection industry by automating manual processes, offering collective problem-solving, and improving user experiences. You can typically use it for things you would have done manually as a data protection officer, including running privacy impact assessments, audits, and risk management. Let’s talk about how privacy management software can change your approach to data protection and bring it from the stone age into the 21st century.

Why does privacy management software matter when it comes to data protection?

Software is becoming increasingly essential in our modern world as organisations rely on it to make their business lives more efficient. From online accounting software that takes the legwork out of managing invoices and tracking payments to customer relationship management software that gives you a single view of your customer and helps you sell to them more effectively: software that can make things better is everywhere. Things are no different when it comes to the data protection world. The emergence of mature privacy management software is the game-changer that has begun to structure and automate what people previously did manually in the industry. There is a range of solutions: from powerful platforms designed for listed and multinational companies to leaner, more focused dashboards for smaller, information-focused businesses. If you’re not taking advantage of it, you’re probably taking too much time to comply with relevant data protection laws or not doing enough to comply.

What is privacy management software?

Privacy management software is a type of software as a service that helps your organisation comply with relevant data protection laws. A vendor often hosts it centrally and provides it to your organisation as the customer on a subscription basis. It usually has functionality that lets you map your activities to create a record of processing activities, conduct privacy impact assessments, manage data subject access requests or handle data privacy incidents. Privacy management software helps ensure compliance with relevant data protection laws, such as the GDPR in the EU, CCPA in the US state of California or POPIA in South Africa.

How can using it benefit your organisation when it comes to data protection?

Using privacy management software could benefit your organisation in many ways, including by helping your organisation:

  • Become compliant with relevant data protection laws, such as the GDPR in the EU, CCPA in the US or POPIA in South Africa, by letting you get a handle on how your organisation protects and processes personal data.
  • Deploy privacy impact assessments, which help you find data protection risks connected to specific processes and activities and work towards addressing them.
  • Protect personal data by allowing you to track data breaches, guard against unauthorised access and find other risks that might harm data subjects.
  • Conduct audits by keeping track of what you’re doing to comply with relevant data protection laws and more readily be able to deal with data protection incidents and show their compliance.
  • Manage risks by giving you tools to find and evaluate possible risks and take steps to keep an eye on or deal with those risks.

Actions you can take