When you buy a new apartment...

…do you check if the walls and ceiling are strong enough or do you start decorating immediately? You would likely check for structural integrity. You might even go the extra step of checking acoustics to see if you can hear through the walls; that would be hard to fix after you have painted the walls and installed the furniture.

It's the same with services based on IT. While the looks matter, the foundations have to be strengthened first.

GDPR and other data protection regulations require the CIO to rethink issues like consent, purpose and processing rights. Websites heavy on advertising and tracking reacted quickly, adding consent forms pop-ups for their users.

These consent pop-ups are a bit like adding a sign on the door saying “By entering this room, you accept that it has very thin walls”. You need to go in, so you open the door, not fully comprehending the potential repercussions of the thin walls.

Rebuild your IT service into a premium one

Every now and then, an IT service needs a remodel. This is a great opportunity to rethink their concepts and build in privacy. Not only for compliance, but to stand out in the market as the safest alternative.

Redesign your service process to minimise personal data use. That also lets you ask for consent at the time when it is really needed. You can analyse business processes for privacy using tools like Privacy Enhancing BPMN and Pleak.

Consider privacy technologies like secure computing and anonymisation. When used right, technologies like Sharemind can help you sidestep the need for consent altogether.

If the privacy foundations are solid, so will your service. Meet us at the Gartner ITxpo in Barcelona 2018 to hear more. You'll find us in booth #812 in the Emerging Technologies area.