GDPR consultants offer businesses professional assistance in meeting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A company offering this service may perform an initial, high-level gap analysis before providing guidance on prioritising remediation activities.
Formal education and attending professional groups are also beneficial for becoming a GDPR consultant, while having a thorough knowledge of regulations and decisions by Supervisory Authorities is absolutely essential.
Compliance
Complying with GDPR may not be easy, but it’s crucial if you want to avoid fines. Under this legislation, companies are required to take various steps in order to safeguard consumer data, including training staff members, setting up audit processes, and updating privacy policies. Though such initiatives require time and financial investments from your company, they can help create trust with consumers while improving business practises.
An essential step towards GDPR compliance is accurately tracking how data enters your firm and where it ends up, including recording all points where touchpoints occur for every piece of information. This helps identify where breaches might take place and allows your organisation to respond promptly if one occurs. Furthermore, it’s crucial that someone within your organisation be accountable for compliance, whether this be one person in small businesses or an entire department in larger corporations.
Additionally, any personal data breaches must be reported within 72 hours of discovery and disclosed to regulators within that same timeframe. You may be required to hire a Data Protection Officer (DPO). While it’s generally advised for every organisation, not every organisation necessarily requires hiring one; DPO specialists can act as your DPO or provide necessary expertise through GDPR consultancy services for those that do.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessments are an integral component of GDPR compliance. They help identify risks related to handling personal data, identify controls that can reduce these risks, develop cost-effective measures to achieve your desired level of risk reduction, and understand the dynamic technical environment where personal data processing occurs.
GDPR mandates that you conduct a Data Protection Impact Analysis (DPIA) when undertaking new or upgrading existing processing operations. This involves mapping how personal information enters, exits, and moves within your business as well as determining if its processing poses high risks to individuals, with steps being taken to mitigate those risks if necessary.
These assessments may take time, but they’re vital in order to comply with GDPR regulations. Conducting assessments allows you to be more knowledgeable when dealing with regulators and audits; additionally, this ensures your business completely abides by regulations.
Your company should conduct an asset risk evaluation for each type of asset it owns, such as buildings, computers and hardware, data, raw materials, and finished goods. Hazard scenarios that could lead to significant injuries should be highlighted and adequate safety measures put into place as necessary. You should also assess the potential effects on customers and the community.
Documentation
GDPR has mandated that businesses document all data processing activities. While this task can seem tedious, documenting your activities will help ensure compliance with GDPR as well as support good governance and data protection practises within your organisation.
Under GDPR requirements, companies are obliged to document how they obtain consent for processing personal data, with clear statements ensuring individuals have realistic choices and can withdraw their agreement at any time. In addition, any consent must be freely given, informed, and unambiguous; this strict standard makes it hard for businesses to rely on pre-ticked boxes or silence as consent.
Document any third-party service providers who process personal data on your behalf. Under GDPR requirements, these service providers must sign contracts allowing them to only process it as instructed by you as the controller; this will protect against liability should a data breach occur.
GDPR also mandates that any personal data breaches be reported to authorities in order to avoid fines that can be substantial if found to breach GDPR. Notifying authorities also serves to improve your reputation with consumers, who will likely take their business elsewhere after discovering that their information has been hacked.
Financial Risk
GDPR consulting firms can assist your organisation with meeting European Union data protection law and ensuring customer data security. In addition, these consultants have experience handling complex policies and workflows. If hiring one is in your plans, consider finding one who specialises in financial industry issues, as they should have superior knowledge.
Compliance with GDPR is an integral step for all businesses that collect EU citizens’ personal data, with failing to do so resulting in fines and revenue loss. Working with an expert GDPR consultant, you can reduce the risk of noncompliance by implementing critical processes and making sure your systems are secure.
Financial firms rely on various IT applications to store and access client data. Many of these IT systems are managed by third-party vendors, increasing the risk of GDPR violations. Furthermore, some contain sensitive data that may be shared outside the EU.
If you are seeking to become a GDPR consultant, there are multiple ways you can begin. Attend professional events, network with colleagues, and join online groups; search job websites matching the supply and demand of consultants; work as either an independent consultant or partner with an established consulting firm; either way, it is essential that you gain the necessary skillset and hands-on experience to be successful.