Data Privacy is part of data protection that addresses properly collecting, managing, and sharing data in compliance with privacy laws such as CCPA or GDPR.
According to SNIA, “Data privacy, sometimes also referred to as information privacy, is an area of data protection that concerns the proper handling of sensitive data including, notably, personal data but also other confidential data, such as certain financial data and intellectual property data, to meet regulatory requirements as well as protecting the confidentiality and immutability of the data.”
Why Is Data Privacy Important?
Consumer data privacy laws look to give back individuals control over their data, allow them to see how it is used, and give them options on how it is used. A 2019 study shows that 73% of customers said trust in companies matters more than it did a year ago. Based on the new influx of privacy laws, it’s reasonable to say that number has gone up.
That’s why creating a plan to process, manage, and share personal data is more critical than ever for organizations. This is the new norm for consumers. According to Gartner’s predictions for the future of privacy, privacy is today what “organic” or “cruelty-free” was in the past decade.
Protecting personal data and placing importance on data privacy can be beneficial in several ways for a business, from meeting consumers’ expectations to rising above competitors with better data, improved customer experience, and better brand image.
If you’re ready to get serious about data privacy, here are five things you need to know.
1. Data Privacy and Data Security Are Not the Same Things
Protecting data requires both data privacy and data security. Though they appear similar, subtle differences start to appear when you break them down.
What is Data Privacy?
Data privacy focuses on the rights of individuals, why data is collected and processed, privacy preferences, and how businesses govern the data.
It focuses on collecting, processing, sharing, archiving, and deleting the data under the law.
What is Data Security?
Data Security includes a set of standards, safeguards, and measures an organization is taking to prevent a third party from unauthorized access to digital data or any intentional or unintentional alteration, deletion, or disclosure of data.
Focus includes protecting data from malicious attacks and preventing the exploitation of stolen data (data breach or cyber-attack).
Both Are Important for Your Business
You can have data security without data privacy, but not the other way around. Say you introduced new data security methods but didn’t obtain the data on a legal base. It doesn’t matter if the data was protected. It’s still a violation of data privacy.
2. Understand the Importance of Data Privacy and Transparency
In a world dominated by a data economy, the value of a business lies in the quantity and quality of its data. It’s not a stretch to say protection of that data is vital to the success of a business. One important distinction is that this personal data is merely borrowed, not owned.
Privacy laws give individuals new rights, such as the right to be forgotten and reclamation of their data.
For companies to maintain data and preserve trust, transparency is essential. Companies will have to share what data they collect, why they collect it, and how they use it.
3. Why is Privacy Important?
Privacy is your right to be free from being observed or disturbed by other people... And you should have the right to exercise that freedom at your own will. This is the underlying reason that new legislation looks to fix.
GDPR changes the digital future of Europe by enforcing massive fines to protect an individual’s privacy. Other legislation, such as CCPA, looks to offer their citizens the same rights.
In the beginning, regulatory authorities were a bit more lenient with fines, but trends show that they have started to bring the hammer down on organizations that have yet to comply.
4. What Happens to Those Who Do Not Comply?
Technology has given us a lot of advancements over the past few decades. It’s also created new ways to collect and process personal data, often without consent. With the existing and upcoming legislation, it will be risky to tackle data privacy laws without a plan—companies unprepared risk hefty fines and lawsuits followed by the risk of brand defamation and customer loss.
A smart approach is to be proactive. Implementing data privacy software will help guide your privacy program and automate the process. Although an initial investment is needed, it’s a fraction of a potential data breach.
According to the Cost of a Data Breach Report by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach is around $3.86 billion. Yikes.
This is a good reason for organizations to start investing in their privacy program and compliance ASAP. Regulatory agencies have taken their gloves off and slapped fines on organizations that don’t comply.
5. New Privacy Regulations
GDPR isn't the first law to give consumers data rights, but many of the previous laws and directives were outdated due to the changes in technology. But it did mark the first robust attempt to control the rampant use of personal data and fine those that abused it accordingly.
Most notably, GDPR gave data back to the people. Following GDPR, the US passed similar laws, including CCPA. As privacy becomes more mainstream, new data privacy laws will continue to form. Organizations should consider this when creating new marketing directives or strategies.
However, these laws don’t just help the consumer. They help businesses as well. In 2019, just 40% of companies said they receive significant business benefits from privacy. In 2020, that number rose to over 70%. Some of those benefits include operational efficiency, agility, innovation, investor appeal, and brand value.
How Adzapier Can Help You Achieve Compliance Faster
More data changes hands today than ever before. More data requires a robust data privacy solution to support the management, storage, and sharing of that data.
Data privacy laws give individuals certain rights, and businesses must fulfill these rights within a pre-determined deadline.
Adzapier can help you automate best practices of data & privacy compliance so that you can focus on what matters most – your core business activities.