GDPR, 99 Red Balloons... and the kitchen draw

If you're just over 21 like me (ahem) then you may remember the song 99 Red Balloons by Nena back in 1983. There is a small parallel with the GDPR, especially the lyrics "With orders to identify, To clarify and classify". This could easily relate to your information and we could also add destroy!

So how do you take a holistic view of the 99 GDPR articles? Its a daunting job and with only a couple of months until enforcement ideally you will be well underway with preparation. One of the most important elements of that prep should be the creation of the relevant stakeholder groups and structure within your information governance team. Hang on - an IG team and stakeholders - isn't this GDPR exercise a one-off data clean up? 

Getting ready for the GDPR isn't a one time task - its not like cleaning out "the kitchen draw" (come on now we all have that one draw for everthing that doesn't have a home!) and then letting the mess build again. This requires on-going, continous compliance - who knows when the ICO might decide to audit you.

Information Governance refers to the enterprise accountability framework that ensures the appropriate behavior in the valuation of information and the definition of roles, policies, processes and metrics required to manage the information lifecycle, including defensible disposition.

No matter how you choose to look at it, Information Governance costs money. This is especially true when considering the time executives need to devote to setting up policies and processes. Yet the payoff is substantial, particularly among these four main areas:

1. Confidence in compliance and reduced risk: Good IG breeds confidence in that it ensures compliance with laws and policies, accurately addresses privacy issues and mitigates the risk of data disasters.
2. Speed of access: IG provides staff and employees with the information they need, when they need it, without undue searching and with greater self-service.
3. Reduced costs: IG ultimately reduces costs by eliminating unnecessary paper, streamlining processes and saving time by removing the need for checking or reconciling data across different sources.
4. Leveraging business value: IG extracts the greatest possible value from any and all company information. A comprehensive IG program allows pieces of information to be used as

In my work in the financial services industry, I see lots of good practice but I still come across organisations where Policy Owners aren't connected to Record Owners and there isn't a coordinated IG team. To quote Forbes, "If GDPR Compliance Doesn't Start With Information Governance, You'll Probably Fail".

So its time to get the 99 articles under control and ensure your IG team is set up and ready, not just for May 25th but for the future.