Data privacy compliance has become a hot topic lately, in part because of several high-profile hacks and cyberattacks. With almost everything now digitized and stored online in the cloud, data privacy safety and compliance has gone from being something for your IT team to worry about to being something you need to discuss at the board level.
But why is data privacy compliance and safety so important in the first place? And what can your company do about it? Let’s take a look.
Why Your Company Should Prioritize Data-Privacy Compliance
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are all about helping consumers to protect their data and preserving their right to be forgotten. You’ll need to abide by these regulations if you’re doing any business in Europe, and they’re also a pretty good indication of best practices so that you can future-proof yourself. Just be sure that you don’t break them, because if you do, you can face a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of your worldwide annual revenue, depending upon which is higher. While GDPR is perhaps the most widely recognized data privacy law, there are many other laws governing the data of different jurisdictions that may affect your company as well.
No, we’re not talking about whoever ruined your favorite TV series by delivering a wooden performance. When we talk about bad actors, we’re talking about those malicious people who are up to no good, looking for exploits so that they can illegally access your data. It’s estimated that as of 2021, the cost of cyberattacks has reached $6 trillion per year, and if you want to make sure that you’re not just another statistic after falling victim to an expensive attack, you’ll need to make sure that you make cybersecurity a priority.
Data integrity is all about making sure that your data is valid and up-to-date. It’s no use to have a huge database of emails, for example, if none of them are still active and you get bounces whenever you try to contact them. This one’s interesting because while it might not lead to you falling foul of the law and paying hefty fines due to non-compliance, there’s a high opportunity cost. In other words, it’ll cost you money in lost sales and other missed opportunities.
Another huge advantage of prioritizing data security is that it encourages people to trust you. Think about it: would you want to buy from a company that didn’t seem to care about the security of your data? This is one of the main reasons why e-commerce companies ensure that they’re using a secure connection when processing their customers’ orders. Financial data and personally identifiable data both need to be stored and processed appropriately so that your customers aren’t at risk of having their credit cards cloned or their identities stolen.
Getting your approach to data just right is a good idea in general because it will help you to get some processes in place that you can follow as a standard part of the way you do business. Once it becomes second nature, you’ll find that it’s saving you time while simultaneously keeping you safe and stopping you from opening yourself up to attacks, lawsuits, or other negative side effects of storing data.
Consistency is hugely important if you want to build a strong business that can stand the test of time. By prioritizing data, you can ensure that all of your decisions are made based on data and that you’re reducing the number of errors that you make when capturing and processing data.
Now that you know a little bit more about why your company should prioritize data, it’s time to take steps to better protect yourself. The important thing to remember is that this should be an ongoing process and not just a single fix.
Cybersecurity and data privacy best practices are constantly changing, and so it falls to you to keep an eye on the landscape and to ensure that you’re staying up to date. Remember that it’s an investment, and by spending money on cybersecurity and data privacy, you ensure that you’re much less likely to be hit by fines from non-compliance or to experience an embarrassing and costly hack.
And of course, if you’re looking for help prioritizing data and getting to grips with the data that you’re storing, we’d be more than happy to help. Reach out to Metricsflow today to learn more about our cookieless analytics and attribution software and how we can help you to protect and prioritize your data.