Today, some degree of data privacy and data protection obligations —regulatory, security standards, consumer trust issues, etc.—touch nearly every organization around the globe. Fulfilling those obligations while maintaining operational resilience and productivity generally requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders as well as a broad range of company leaders. While typically led by an organizations legal and compliance department, operationalizing data privacy technology, implementing the required safeguards and governance workflows requires both the support and leadership of IT.

Jumping into the dynamic data privacy landscape may initially feel like rocky terrain for IT. But it’s also an opportunity for Technology leaders to assume a proactive role in what has quickly become a highly visible and critical business issue. An InformationWeek article reported that only, “Fifty-eight percent of CIOs sit on the board compared to 71 percent just two years ago, and nearly two-thirds of organizations allow a ‘business-managed’ IT spend.” With the role of IT continuing to evolve alongside the rapidly shifting data, security and compliance paradigm, it’s important for CIOs (and their teams) to be prepared to lead their organizations top priorities, even when they fall outside the typical scope of IT responsibilities.

To offer some guidance for our clients on this topic, we also collaborated with Linda Brust, a director in FTI’s Information Governance, Privacy & Security professional services team, to create an in-depth FAQ that examines the intersection of data privacy and IT, and specific issues which have been impacted by the pandemic. Some of the key questions explored in the piece include:

  • Why does IT need to care about privacy, and what regulations are top of mind?
  • How can we conduct audits and risk assessments when everyone is working remotely?
  • How is sensitive data and network access being secured from disparate, remote devices?

With a hand in privacy, an in-depth understanding of technical operations and a partnership with legal and compliance, IT organizations will play a central role in mitigating one of the biggest risk vectors corporations are currently facing.

Read more about IT’s role in supporting global privacy compliance by downloading the complete whitepaper: IT’s Role in Supporting Global Privacy Compliance.