Rapid growth is an exciting time for any startup but with growth comes increased attention, and not all attention is positive:
- Prime data breach target: While large enterprises may be perceived to have mature and comprehensive security defenses, bad actors target growing companies for a potential larger pay day without yet having the infrastructure in place to prevent a data breach.
- Increased scrutiny and litigation: Civil litigators hope to attract a large number of plaintiffs to their case, and may be more likely to pursue cases when the brand is more visible and recognizable to consumers.
Startups rarely consider privacy as part of their foundational organization, but quickly learn the need to address privacy as they grow. Still, without strategic management, privacy programs can suffer delays as internal stakeholders worry they could interfere with continued growth. That’s why brands like Life360, ByHeart, Feastables, and Sandbox VR trust DataGrail to keep them a step ahead of privacy risk. Here’s how we do it:
1. Ensure verifiable consent compliance
Data privacy class-action lawsuits have been on the rise since 2022. Tracking user behavior on your website for the purpose of analytics or targeted advertising without providing sufficient notice is considered illegal wiretapping. Furthermore, many states have introduced legislation requiring organizations to offer users a clear opt-out of the selling or sharing of their personal data. Under GDPR in the EU and UK, companies must further gain opt-in permission before selling or sharing personal data. Companies that disregard this legislation risk legal action from the governing Attorney General as well as, in some regions, the general public.
Highly public privacy lawsuits have also enlightened consumers to their privacy rights. Visiting your website is often the first serious interaction a buyer has with your brand, and the modern buyer wants to know their privacy choices will be respected. Customer trust is critical – and yet we’ve found that even companies who appear to be collecting user consent choices only honor those choices 25% of the time.
DataGrail Consent addresses the problem by automating compliance. Without writing so much as a line of code, you can spin up unique consent modals that adjust to meet the requirements of the viewer’s local regulation. DataGrail Consent is the perfect solution for a growing company because you don’t need to stand up a dedicated resource or assign engineering for continuous monitoring. DataGrail Consent will proactively inform you when new trackers are deployed on your website, assuring you of around the clock compliance without wasting any time or resources.
2. Deliver a seamless data subject request process
When a consumer chooses to exercise their data subject rights, they get a close view of the company’s privacy practice, and it’s important that their experience leaves a positive impression. Processing a data subject request is not only a legal requirement in many regions, but it’s also an increasingly critical brand interaction. Don’t let customers walk away with the impression that your brand made it exceedingly difficult or time-consuming to have a simple data request executed – even if the reality behind the scenes is not so simple.
Using 2,000+ integrations, DataGrail Request Manager ensures data subject requests are processed efficiently and accurately. Manually processing a request risks missing deletions or stalling requests beyond mandated response timelines, especially because growth-stage companies often experience a ballooning tech stack full of customized team-level tools and untracked data streams.
“Our data engineers used to use a semi-manual script for data deletion requests, but the script couldn’t reach all 3rd party systems. DataGrail’s no-click automations gave our data engineer more than half of his life back.”
Ammy Lesniak, Sr. Compliance Manager, Privacy, Life360
Plus, Request Manager allows you to style the data subject request process and adjust notification copy to match your brand, while dynamically offering customers the right request options for their location. Take this example of the Sandbox VR Privacy Request Center:
3. Build a data map and uncover risk
It’s important for your executive team to understand your total privacy risk. If a data breach occurred today, what sensitive user data would be at risk? If a consumer submits a data deletion request, how likely would it be that all of their personal data is actually deleted? Could the consumer’s data be hiding in any shadow IT not formally integrated into your data subject request process, but nonetheless your company is responsible for?
Concern for user privacy does not need to be a roadblock to your company’s success. You can bring in the tools you need to fuel your growth without queuing up a mess of privacy risk. You can meet regulator demands, such as GDPR’s requirement for a Record of Processing Activity and the Minnesota’s Consumer Data Privacy Act’s system inventory requirement, without cluttering your procurement process.
DataGrail Live Data Map proactively detects new systems added to your inventory and surfaces their risk. You can easily monitor the impact of your growing tech stack and prioritize areas of potential outsized risk without needing any manual entry from your team. When you’re ready to start mitigating privacy risk, you can document your mitigation strategies in the same place, offering you a 360 view of each system’s risk.
Interested in seeing the platform? Request a demo.
