6 Strategic Ways To Build An Effective Privacy Organization

Data governance and privacy has become quite the hot topic as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) just passed the 1-year-out mark for going into effect on May 25, 2018. Business owners, C-level Execs and savvy martech professionals are sifting through the recommended readings, webinar recordings, checklists and more – all trying to determine what they should start doing now to prepare, when they should start and how they’re going to do it.  

At Tealium, we understand how overwhelming of all of the available information can be and unfortunately there’s no single, perfect privacy organization structure that we can prescribe for all firms to put into place. However – what we can recommend is that teams that are governing data, privacy and GDPR initiatives within an organization will want to stay agile and flexible with their approach as internal and external needs may change and the ability to adapt will be key. Those needs may be centralized or decentralized; they can be business-led or technology-led; and they will be influenced by factors like geography, the nature of your business, or the products and services you sell.

There are 6 Key Success Attributes to Building An Effective Privacy Structure in Your Organization:

Have a privacy leader

Your organization’s privacy lead is the main point of contact who drives the privacy program and manages coordination amongst key stakeholders. This individual is most often…(keep reading + see the full report here).

Identify and limit potential conflicts of interest

Competing business objectives are fundamentally disruptive to an emerging privacy structure, so identify scenarios where conflicts of interest could occur. For example, a company with…(keep reading + see the full report here).

Create escalation and exception procedures

Most marketers will happily push their own privacy boundaries if it means better customer experiences and engagement, so escalation procedures are important. Stakeholders use this process…(keep reading + see the full report here).

Define the relationship between privacy and compliance

While compliance should never be the sole driver of a privacy program, regulations and privacy laws must be top of mind for any organization. Different requirements and enforcement across geographies…(keep reading + see the full report here).

Audit data assets

This isn’t just about data schemas or integrations. Organizations must understand how line-of-business technologies, applications and solutions handle…(keep reading + see the full report here).

“There’s no single, perfect privacy organization structure. Teams should evolve with your firm’s privacy maturity and adapt to changing internal and external needs”

Source: How To Design And Build A Great Consumer Data Privacy Organization, April 2017, Forrester

Think globally and locally

Privacy touches myriad business functions, technologies and processes. Successful privacy organizations engage a magnitude of stakeholders in order to……(keep reading + see the full report here).

Keeping these 6 attributes in mind will not only help you build an effective data privacy organization but they will also help you establish overall preparedness for GDPR compliance.

Interested in learning more about the GDPR and taking a deeper dive into creating a comprehensive consumer data privacy organization? View Tealium’s licensed April 2017 Forrester Report, “How To Design And Build A Great Consumer Data Privacy Organization.”

Tealium has also compiled an extensive list of resources to help build and strengthen your knowledge on data governance and privacy.