Amid growing customer concerns and state compliance requirements, organizations encounter increasing financial and reputational risks. It’s a cultural shift that is here now. User data ultimately belongs to the customer, and it’s now time to treat customers and their data very respectfully or face steep fines. How can a small to midsize organization begin to build a robust capability to protect user data? This article lays out a simple set of considerations and questions which will help get started on the road to better protecting customer data.

Discover Requirements

Small and large organizations alike struggle to maintain full and current awareness of privacy laws and their respective requirements. Without that knowledge, they run the risk of misusing customer data, violating their customers’ trust, state or federal audits, or even class action lawsuits. Data privacy violations can be devastating to a company’s reputation and bottom line, exposing them to state, federal, and international fines corresponding to their organization’s lack of stewardship. It pays to properly manage entrusted customer data, but costs more if you don’t.

Be Mindful of the Full Cost of Violations

Once violations are made public in accordance with privacy law (and best practices), your customers will wonder if your organization can be trusted to handle their personal data securely. Damage control always costs more than maintaining trust through due diligence. Relationships are not repaired quickly or easily, and you can expect customers to go elsewhere.

Make it a Team Sport

Even if an organization fully understands existing privacy law and implications, it may not have full transparency into internal operations. Consequently, some of your team may be engaging in violations without knowing it, in their daily data management practices. Once a violation is examined, for example, it reveals all the ways private data was mishandled. Understanding must go in all directions, not just one siloed internal organization.

Privacy Program Management

Perhaps you have a strong grasp of privacy law, and internal practices. You likely still you lack the software, systems and expertise to create and implement an effective privacy program.

• How much time will it take to reach compliance for our organization?

• What will be the overall cost of building and maintaining the privacy program ?

• Who should lead it, a board or an individual?

• How much time and energy will privacy program maintenance require?

• Would we know if privacy laws change in a state where we do business?

• How will we communicate our progress and success to all stakeholders?
  

We Can Help

The ZenPrivata Privacy Platform is a solution that is easy to understand, easy to implement, and easy to explain to management at every level. The ZenPrivata Privacy Platform integrates existing and pending privacy laws, identifies and coordinates actionable steps in order to stay compliant, up to date, and enables internal and customer communications to ensure that data is managed in accordance with legislation and customers' expectations of trust.

The cultural shift to manage trusted data is already here. The ZenPrivata Privacy Platform helps you evolve with ongoing changes to ensure your success. Click the link below, to learn more.