AXIA GLOBAL DATA PROTECTION SERVICES
Why Should You Get A Data Protection Audit?
Whether you’re a small organisation, a fast-growing business or an international group of companies, it’s important to understand your level of compliance within both the UK and EU GDPR.
GDPR requires organisations to meet stringent data protection requirements affecting the personal data of UK and EU citizens and also impacts companies that are based outside of Europe. With severe penalties in play - fines of up to €20m or 4% of global annual revenues - corporations must implement actionable and efficient strategies to achieve compliance. AXIA Compliance works with global organisations in all manner of industries and jurisdictions designing compliance policies and workflows for GDPR compliance.
AXIA Compliance provides the required broad range of privacy experience with practical implications of applying data protection and information security, managing operational environments, implementing information governance practices and applying change management within the most complex regulatory environments. We specialise in working with financial services clients as our team are additionally qualified within regulatory compliance and also information security.
AXIA GLOBAL DATA PROTECTION SERVICES
AXIA provides a complete range of GDPR services including:
GDPR Assessment
Review requirements, applicability, identify gaps and areas of risk across people, processes and technology in order to develop a pragmatic roadmap and action plan.
Data Subject Rights
Define a standardised process to review and efficiently handle Data Subject requests, including defining roles and responsibilities for internal and external stakeholders. Enable efficient data mapping, identification and searching across diverse data sources.
Cybersecurity Assessment and Program Implementation
Assess cybersecurity posture and provide recommendations for implementing policies, processes and technologies that establish the appropriate level of security to mitigate risks.
GDPR Policies
Writing and development of required GDPR internal policies and additionally website Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Terms of Service.
Employee Training and Change Management
Develop GDPR awareness campaign and develop multi-channel stakeholder specific training materials for employees, HR, IT, Customer Support, Marketing, and other key stakeholder areas. Ensure client specific drivers are fully reflected in presentation of communications and training.
GDPR Technology & Program Implementation
Provide privacy subject matter expertise and assist with the implementation of GDPR enabling technology. Our team has experience with GDPR relevant technologies (e.g. Data Mapping, Data Remediation, Incident Response, Subject Access Request Workflow, Records Management, Archive tools and more). Define requirements, perform vendor selection and implement compliant processes and procedures.
Privacy Impact Assessment & Privacy by Design
Assess risks for specific areas, systems or projects, update system provisioning processes, policies, procedures, roles, and technical standards, and review and align with an Enterprise Risk Framework.
Contract Intelligence
Identify potentially relevant contracts that may need to be reviewed and updated with GDPR compliant data protection clauses.
Data Map Development
Develop a GDPR specific personal data map and inventory personal data across the enterprise, where it flows internally and externally in the organisation.
GDPR Program Auditing
Conduct an independent review and audit of your existing GDPR program and related practices to identify potential areas of improvement and ongoing compliance.
Sensitive Data Remediation
Define and classify data to identify redundant and obsolete data appropriate for remediation and decommission applications.
Data Breach Preparedness and Response
Develop and implement incident response preparedness, response and notification plans to help companies meet the 72-hour breach notification requirements.
Additionally AXIA offer their clients complete peace of mind regarding data privacy compliance with their AXIA DPO as a service (VIrtual DPO).
AXIA DPO as a Service (Virtual DPO)
What is a data protection officer?
A Data Protection Officer (DPO) is an experienced data protection consultant who helps your business meet and maintain data protection regulations, as well as give advice and guidance on all data privacy matters. A DPO plays a crucial role in protecting personal data within your organisation, helping maintain GDPR compliance.
Is a DPO mandatory?
For many businesses, a full-time individual in this role is not required and also expensive so outsourcing to a data protection professional can alleviate workload on employees and provide an objective perspective on compliance.
Do we need a data protection officer?
The GDPR stipulates that an organisation must appoint a statutory Data Protection Officer (DPO) if any of the following apply:
1. The organisation is a public authority or body;
2. As part of its core activities the organisation monitors individuals regularly and in a systematic way on a large scale. For example, tracking and monitoring individual’s behaviour, such as on the internet or on CCTC; or
3. As pa part of its core activities the organisation processes large volumes of special category data (i.e. data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data about a person’s sex life or sexual orientation) or criminal conviction or offence data.
However, if an organisation does not meet the triggers for a statutory DPO, they may still decide to appoint a voluntary DPO.
Appointing a DPO voluntarily is also advised as this highlights data protection compliance and provides a point of contact for data subjects and regulators. It is worth noting that if an organisation decides to voluntarily appoint a DPO, the statutory requirements set out in the GDPR will apply to the voluntary DPO in the same way as if a mandatory DPO appointment was required. This includes the requirement for the DPO to act independently, to fulfil the duties set out in the GDPR and to be provided with adequate resources to fulfil those duties.
What if we decide not to appoint a data protection officer?
Provided that you are not required to appoint a DPO, because you aren’t caught by any of the criteria set out in the GDPR, there is no problem with you deciding not to appoint one. However, it is important that you are confident in your assessment as if a DPO is not appointed, when one is required, the organisation will be in breach of the GDPR, and at risk of an administrative fine of up to 2% of annual global turnover or about £8.5 million, whichever is greater and/or enforcement action.
What are the benefits of outsourcing the role?
Whilst the DPO can form part of an internal role it is important that the professional duties of the employee are compatible with the duties of the DPO and do not lead to a conflict of interests. Many internal DPOs that we speak to say that this can often be a challenge, and they can feel conflicted between the statutory duties that they have as a DPO and the other elements of their role which can drive them towards a decision that is more in line with the commercial objectives that they know the business is trying to achieve. This is one of the main benefits of outsourcing the role, as it enables the organisation to maintain the independent status of a DPO, and to remove any questions around whether a DPO has been subject to a conflict of interests when making decisions in relation to the processing of personal data by the organisation.
Another major benefit of outsourcing the role is that you can be confident that the outsourced DPO has a full understanding of the statutory obligations that must be complied with when undertaking the role and has adequate resources to fulfil those duties. Again, this can often be a challenge to those individuals that perform the role of the DPO internally alongside other responsibilities, as they can find that they don’t have the bandwidth to fulfil the DPO responsibilities to the level that they would like and can therefore find themselves unable to properly assess the data protection risks that an organisation is carrying or to become a blocker in the process.
And finally, outsourcing the role can provide organisations with the opportunity to benchmark what they do against other organisations in a similar sector or of a similar size, as the outsourced DPO will often have experience of working with other organisations and with the ICO. They will therefore be able to bring that perspective to the table and provide you with the confidence that you are handling a matter, for example a data breach, in the way that the ICO expect.
How can AXIA Compliance help?
An AXIA DPO consultant can help with all data protection related matters, including monitoring internal compliance, informing on data protection obligations, and acting as a contact point for the supervisory authority and data subjects.
The responsibilities of a DPO include:
- ICO registration
- Data breach support and response (including liaison with the ICO)
- Breach response
- Data subject access request support (SAR)
- Policy and procedure support and advice
- Both UK and EU representation
- Data mapping support and advice
- Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
- Assisting with customer questionnaires and due diligence
- General GDPR support
- Arranging GDPR staff training
How can AXIA Compliance help?
An AXIA DPO Consultant can help with all data protection related matters, including monitoring internal compliance, informing on data protection obligations, and acting as a contact point for the supervisory authority and data subjects.
The responsibilities of a DPO include:
- ICO registration
- Data breach support and response (including liaison with the ICO)
- Breach response
- Data subject access request support (SAR)
- Policy and procedure support and advice
- Both UK and EU representation
- Data mapping support and advice
- Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
- Assisting with customer questionnaires and due diligence
- General GDPR support
- Arranging GDPR staff training
Scalable pricing, tailored to your business
Every business is unique, so we offer tailored pricing to suit your business and regulatory needs. We recommend talking to our expert DPO team who ensure you get the best value compliance proportional requirements.
What is included in the AXIA DPO Service?
Our Virtual DPO Service includes all the services in our Virtual DPO service download below:
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