There are many reasons why companies should implement and maintain a robust security and privacy compliance program and policies, including:
Maintaining a security and privacy compliance program helps you protect your company’s resources and reputation by laying the foundation on which you build trust with customers, vendors, employees, and other stakeholders.
Security and privacy laws and regulations help protect your business, employees, and customers. Companies that don’t have a security and privacy compliance program, or worse, those that ignore laws and regulations governing their businesses, and fail to comply, open themselves up to risks beyond fines including:
Determining which laws and regulations are applicable to your business can be a daunting process that requires through research of various laws and regulations. That’s why it’s recommended that companies work with a compliance partner who can guide you and facilitate this process for your organization. There are three business areas organizations should focus on at the beginning of this process:
Because every company is different, the process to implement a security and privacy compliance program will vary to address its specific compliance requirements. However, most organizations benefit from a process with the following the steps:
Maintaining a successful security and privacy compliance program is an ongoing process of implementation and evaluation. Policies and procedures evolve as regulatory requirements and laws change and, as a result, your processes and systems must be re-evaluated to ensure they continue to meet compliance. For this reason, the steps above should be considered as a process cycle, not a one-time process for the initial implementation.
The process to obtain certifications will be different for each law or regulation governing your business. In addition, certification is not available or required by all laws and regulations. The first step, before obtaining certifications, is to determine which data security and privacy laws and regulations your business is required to comply with. Next you should implement a data security and privacy compliance program. Only after you have successfully implemented your compliance program, you will be able to apply for certifications if required or available.
Our final tip, choose GeekSupport as your partner in compliance. GeekSupport provides data security and privacy compliance services as part of our GeekPremium+ subscription level. For $74.99/month per employee, you will receive guidance and support to implement an effective compliance program in addition to our full suite of IT support services. Schedule your free consultation today or call us at 866-302-0916.
We include security and compliance as part of our IT support services because IT plays a critical role in a company’s efforts to implement a data security and privacy compliance program. This intersection between IT and compliance, combined with our mission to provide cost-effective support solutions to small and medium-sized organizations, led to the decision to expand our service offering and add data security and privacy compliance services to our GeekPremium+ subscription level.