While GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) only applies in EU, its effects will be seen all over the world. There are hundreds and thousands of organizations operating in EU or handling citizen data. Without GDPR compliance, there will be no further business from EU companies, and non-compliance charges are miserably high. So, if you think that this might not affect your business, then you cannot be more wrong. Unless your company practically does no business with EU or does not deal with data of EU citizens.
We all know what GDPR is, it’s been in the news for a while now. If you are not aware, I strongly recommend you to visit my previous blog – What Is GDPR? Are You Ready For The Challenges?
One question that keeps coming back to me is – Is GDPR similar to SoX? Let’s see.
As I mentioned in the previous blog, SoX created the same havoc around the world when it was introduced 15 years ago. If you are in this industry for long, you might recall how SoX came as a big challenge for everyone. It took a lot of time to understand even its compliance regulations. However, today, the industry is prepared to encounter new challenges. As everyone knows the importance of protecting the customers, investors, management, and other stakeholders from potential risks.
GDPR is becoming a reason for concern since the majority of the non-EU organizations are unaware of the data privacy rules and practices. And no matter, how much we try, we have very less time to start reacting to this change. It’s now or never situation because GDPR will be regulated from 25th May 2018.
For SoX, staying compliant and managing the cost of compliance has been very tricky. Every business has come a long way in maintaining SoX compliance and applying new better approaches such as implementing automated solutions like SAP GRC, etc. Hence, reducing the costs. Further, there are around 850 providers who deliver the best GRC services across the world to all size of enterprises/companies. A similar scenario is going to haunt us in case of GDPR as well. No wonder, everyone is stressing over this new regulation.
The feedback from the industry experts reveals that GDPR will give us a hard time, but growth in technology-driven businesses will prove to be a helping hand. During the initial days of SoX, handling piles of documents, files, and certifications consumed a lot of our time. But now, organizations can use the past experiences and techniques of efficient management for successful implementation of GDPR.
Is GDPR more of an opportunity or a threat?
Honestly, most organizations are taking it as a threat and here are the reasons why-
- Compliance is not an easy task. It is in fact complex to stay compliant with GDPR terms. GDPR requires knowing where customer data resides and how it is used. But, currently, many organizations believe that they can’t track data this early. Further, they will also have to very careful in future while processing and using data of EU citizens.
ToggleNow brings various partner solutions that offer 477 pre-defined cyber security risks broken into 27 different categories. These can be quickly implemented using the SAP GRC Process control and Risk management solutions.
- Maintaining integrity and quality of data are important, but even a single non-compliance can prove to be harmful.
ToggleNow provides a wide range of engagements from audit readiness to full compliance projects and education series, mostly at reasonable prices.
- One of the main reasons GDPR is constantly surfacing the headlines is because of its non-compliance penalties. If you think that the fine will be a minimum amount, then you are wrong. GDPR is a regulation, and it contains mandatory penalties for non-compliance. It will be really hard even to negotiate the high penalty that can reach up to 20M euros.
ToggleNow (partner) solutions will give you a 360-degree view of the controls. Therefore, making it easy to identifying any non-compliance.
- Though we know that GDPR will be easier than SoX, we don’t know the efforts it will take. There’s no clear indication of how far we will have to go, or how much time and money we will have to spend to stay compliant.
ToggleNow offers ready to deploy solutions that help in reducing the costs involved in implementing and managing the GDPR. With these solutions, you are well aware of the GDPR budgets.
GDPR is not all about threats and drawbacks. Here are some of the opportunities –
- It gives many organizations an opportunity to take measures to increase data security and integrity.
- If there are data transparency and increased security, then customers will be more comfortable in sharing their data. Customer’s increased trust will give companies an opportunity to enhance their customer base.
- In many cases, data breaches have damaged brand reputation. Good security practices will surely be hard to implement, but it can decrease data and security breaches. If customer data is safe with you and there are less data security glitches, you will not have to worry about damaging your reputation.
- The major advantage that organizations get here is… spending time and money on staying compliant will directly or indirectly increase cybersecurity status of your company.
We do not have a choice with GDPR. However, if we keep that aside, then GDPR can actually prove to be a great opportunity for every organization. It gives you a chance to become better as far as data security is concerned. With GDPR, we can prepare ourselves in advance for a better system, effective data security, and increased brand value.
Reach out to us today to know more about GDPR compliance. ToggleNow along with its partners can help you evaluate your data and setup the right set of controls to manage GDPR. Our team is available round the clock to address your questions and help you stay compliant with GDPR terms and regulations.
