The security of your customers’ personal information is one of the most important actions you can take as a company. When customers know that their personal information is secure with you, they feel more confident in you and are more likely to stay loyal to your brand. This means that you have to have zero tolerance for data management mistakes and strictly adhere to guidelines like GDPR and CCPA.

Organizing your company’s data protection policy requires a keen understanding of your specific goals and a meticulous plan for constant maintenance over time. It is also necessary to use the appropriate tools that can automate and streamline your procedure of setting up access controls and security policies.

Create a complete inventory of the data that your organization processes or stores. This includes a list of all the data’s sources location, types, and custodians. It also defines the ways in which data is used as well as shared and stored throughout its entire life cycle. This allows you to map your data systems and help you manage your data. It also enables you to discover any weaknesses or weak points in your security measures.

In collaboration with the legal and compliance departments, come up with comprehensive policies for protecting data. These policies should clearly outline guidelines on how to handle various kinds of data, the conditions under which each type can be anchor accessed, as well as the consequences for violating these rules.

Limit the amount of information you store by deleting any data which is no longer required. Implement strict data retention guidelines and periodically review them to ensure that you’re only storing the most sensitive data. Finally, implement regular security awareness training to teach employees the proper ways to handle and safeguard the data of customers. This will lower the risk of malicious or accidental data breaches by employees who aren’t following the company’s guidelines.