Data privacy management software or platform | Expert advice

Data privacy management software or privacy management platforms are on fire. One of them has just been named the fastest-growing company in America. Privacy management software has many benefits for organisations. There are many good reasons why every organisation should be considering using it. Most organisations are realising that it is very hard to manage data privacy with spreadsheets. However, there is also no one size that fits all organisations. Selecting the right privacy management software for your organisation depends on a number of factors and your specific requirements.

Selecting the right privacy management software for your organisation can be a daunting task. If you start with a Google search you will quickly realise that there are literally hundreds of possibilities. You can easily spend days and days comparing them in the search to find the best one possible.

We can help you make the best choice faster.

Which is the best privacy management software for your organisation?

The best is the one that is right for your organisation and helps you achieve the outcome you seek. They all do some of the same things and also each has its own niche. Most do assessments in some form, create a record of your processing activities, manage cookies, process data subject access requests (DSARs), manage the process of responding to incidents, and managing data processing relationships.

• Some are free and some cost a lot of money.
• Some are vendor agnostic and others are provided by the big tech companies.
• Choosing the right one is hard because you need both technical knowledge and skill, and a really good understanding of data privacy.

How we can help you select data privacy management software

We can help you to choose the right data privacy management software for your specific organisation. We are independent advisors and are therefore able to give you an unbiased view and assist you in making the right decision. We are resellers or partners with many of the software or platform providers. We’ll always be upfront if we are receiving a commission or benefit from one of them.

Consider these options:

Sometimes our recommendation is that you don’t need software. But it is still good to go through the process so that you make decisions from a position of knowledge.

Why data privacy management software?

Good question. Firstly, its software for data privacy, not data protection. Data privacy is broader than data protection. This software or platforms manage privacy and not just security. Although they do often help to manage security too. And then management because they help an organisation manage privacy. It is possible to manage privacy manually but if you are a large organisation this gets hard. If you’re looking for a dashboard, detailed documentary proof, and auditable records, you need data privacy management software.

• Data loss prevention (DLP) software is something different from privacy management software. DLP is a tool that actually prevents the loss of data. It doesn’t really manage privacy and privacy management software doesn’t prevent loss.
• Some people refer to compliance management software (or just compliance software) and these tools manage compliance with all regulatory requirements and are not specific to privacy.

Privacy tech is the generic term for all technology (including hardware and software) that relates to privacy.

We use data privacy management software in our engagements

We usually use software to implement effective compliance programmes for clients. It is one of the first engagements and questions we ask. What software do you want to use?

The questions you should be asking

We can help you to ask yourself the right questions and try to find the answers in as much detail as possible. Doing this before you start comparing software will put you in a very strong position when you start evaluating the different features.