The impact of a privacy officer on your organisation's success

The value of early involvement

We see it happen more often than you might think: an organisation is in the process of purchasing a new software tool that will be used to process personal data on a large scale. The project is almost complete in terms of content. All that remains is to sign the various agreements, including the data processing agreement. The processing agreement is forwarded to the Privacy Officer for approval. However, the Privacy Officer encounters all kinds of high risks that have been insufficiently mitigated within the project. The organisation is faced with a choice:

• Accept the risks and implement the tool as is with the risk of reputational damage, regulatory investigations and, at worst, fines.
  or
• Go back to square 1 and make sure measures are still taken to reduce risks.

As an organisation you clearly want to avoid reaching this point, because it leads to frustration among project staff or customers. In addition, this choice can lead to unexpected costs, as more time must be put into the project than anticipated. To avoid getting to this point as an organisation, it is important to involve the Privacy Officer as early as possible in such a project. The Privacy Officer can translate the often complicated legal provisions into simple, practical requirements that the project must meet. By including these requirements from the beginning, you avoid unnecessary frustration, costs, and develop the best products and services.

Transparency as a strategic foundation 

So much for the negative side of not involving a Privacy Officer early enough. In fact, timely involvement of a Privacy Officer should be seen primarily as a competitive advantage or unique selling point. By making it clear as an organisation that you value principles such as transparency, honesty and accountability, you build trust with customers and the broader public. And trust is key to growing as an organisation.

A Privacy Officer helps organisations pragmatically embed such principles in processes and systems. And that’s something your organisation can proudly share with (potential) customers and partners!

Privacy as a driver of innovation

It was mentioned briefly in the introduction to this blog: privacy is still often seen as an obstacle to innovation. At Privacy Company, we believe that the GDPR does not hinder innovation, but rather steers it in the right direction. By requiring products and services to comply with principles such as transparency and fairness,it steers innovation in a direction that aligns with EU values and standards. Privacy Company's Privacy Officers help organisations stay both innovative and compliant. For example, we have proudly contributed to innovative, privacy-friendly initiatives to give consumers more control over their personal data for recommendations or advertising purposes on content websites, and for privacy-compliant data use in the context of job counseling for vulnerable labour groups.

Conclusion

Privacy laws don’t stifle innovation – they guide it in the right direction. In fact, privacy can be a real competitive advantage for organisations. But without the right expertise, it is often difficult in practice to innovate in a compliant manner and thus unlock that competitive advantage. Privacy Company's Privacy Officers help organisations navigate the complex, legal maze of the GDPR, breaking it down in a simple and pragmatic way. This way, we contribute to honest, transparent and responsible innovation, making the world a little more privacy-friendly, step by step.
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Curious about what Privacy Company can do for your organisation? Contact us at info@privacycompany.nl.

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