Privacy Program FAQs for Privacy Professionals

As customers become more alert to privacy issues, organisational privacy programs must achieve customer trust in addition to regulatory compliance. The privacy professionals considering how to best implement dynamic, responsive, and trust-increasing privacy programs have questions. In this article, we will answer the Privacy Program FAQs we are hearing: 

What is a Privacy Program? 

A Privacy Program is a framework that guides organisational privacy efforts and provides structure for decision making. A robust privacy program will:  

• Strengthen compliance; 

• Reduce the friction associated with maintaining data subjects’ privacy;  
• Create win-wins where privacy increases while also streamlining an organisation’s operations; and  
• Increase trust in your organisation.  

A Privacy Program achieves this by effectively mapping data inflows and outflows, creating flexible mid- and long-term strategies to handle and manage data, and generating organisational policies and processes to ensure data hygiene and compliance. More than this, privacy programs should also reflect your organisation’s attitude towards privacy. They should be the backbone of the culture of privacy. Moreover, they should include the resources and processes required to implement and achieve the level of privacy hygiene and maturity your organisation is striving for. 

What is the Purpose of a Privacy Program? 

An organisation’s privacy program has the mammoth task of achieving regulatory compliance, reducing organisational risk stemming from the collection and use of user data, mitigating against the risk of data breaches, and improving customer trust.  

To achieve this in practice, many organisations are taking a proactive response. They are identifying common themes in changing regulatory and enforcement priorities and developing privacy frameworks that adopt responsive practices. In 2022 (working towards 2023 compliance), you might consider implementing a timeline for (amongst other things):  

• Reviewing and amending your contracts to comply with GDPR and US requirements (including the California, Colorado, and Virginia privacy regulations), if relevant, as well as the updated SCCs.  
• Reviewing your data collection and management practices to remove dark patterns. 
• Considering the cookies and AdTech strategies you currently have and adjusting them for the future.  

How Do you Develop a Successful Privacy Program for Your Business? 

Every successful privacy program is built on a foundation of understanding and mapping of your organisation’s data. You must know where and how you collect, store, use, disclose, and transmit data. It is also critical that you know and understand what data agreements you have in place, alongside the appropriate processes to destroy the data when required by those agreements or where your data subjects request to manage their data. We covered data mapping in more detail in this blog post.  

With a thorough understanding of where and how your organisation’s data is managed, the next steps involve contemplating the relevant regulations that apply to your organisation as well as your organisation’s attitude, approach, and agreements relating to privacy. From there, you will need to select or develop a framework that reflects your legal and compliance obligations and your culture. Then, you will need to roll it out across your organisation, ensuring that each department knows their responsibilities and how to achieve them.  

CIPM Certification Courses: Master the Skills to Establish, Maintain, and Manage a Privacy Program 

The CIPM certification is for privacy professionals who want to master the skills to design and implement privacy programs within an organisation. It is the global industry standard in privacy programme management.  

If you are interested in learning more about operational privacy and privacy program management, the CIPM exam and certification is for you.  

Privacy 108 provides CIPM exam preparedness training to privacy professionals. You can review our CIPM Exam Preparatory Course Details or see the summary of what is included in our CIPM exam preparation course:  

• 4 x half-day instructor-led online training sessions  
• The official electronic copy of the IAPP textbook Privacy Program Management  
• Up-to-date Student Guide  

• Specimen exam  
• An exam voucher (valid for six months and valued at US$550) *  
• 12 months of IAPP Professional Membership (valued at US$250)  
• Access to recorded sessions at any time for up to 12 months after the course date.  
• Get additional resources available only to Privacy 108 students.  

• Link to over 200 practice questions created by us to help your exam prep.  
• Summaries and crib-sheets to help you study. 

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