Elements of a sound governance & Compliance strategy
Information is at the heart of all businesses. Managing and protecting that information is increasing complex. Compliance with ever expanding data protection regulations requires a strategy - information governance is the foundation of that strategy:
Understanding Your Data
What data are you capturing? Where is it used? Who has access? Data discovery is the first step in establishing a strategy for data protection. You can't protect data if you don't know you have it - or where it is located.
Understanding Applicable Regulations
Are you collecting PII - does GDPR or CCPA apply to your company? Collecting sensitive data or health information? Do you have contractual, legal or regulatory requirements to protect specific data? If so, what does compliance look like?
Assessing Potential Risks
A data risk assessment allows you to determine your level of compliance with applicable data protection requirements. It also provides insight on how that data is accessed and used within your organization.
Developing a Strategy For Compliance
Developing a strategy for governance and compliance requires a comprehensive look at the data protection technologies employed, the business and operational processes in place and the vendors that may be processing data on your behalf.
Strategy Implementation
Technology alone can not protect you from data breaches or ensure compliance with data protection regulations. Your business processes must also be compliant and your employees need to be educated on how to minimize the risk of unauthorized data access.
Maintaining Compliance
Ongoing governance and compliance requires regularly reviewing your processes, ensuring a sound technology update/patch process, regular employee education, maintaining documentation required by regulators and keeping current on new and changed regulations that may impact your organization.