Gartner forecasts consumer data protection will cover three-quarters of all people by 2024

Michael Hughes, Chief Business Officer at privacy-enhancing data science firm Duality Technologies says it is crucial for enterprises to work towards putting in place privacy and security guarantees that ensure the protection of their data and those of their customers.

In an article published on the World Economic Forum website, the data expert highlights the importance of data and data-sharing, citing health and financial data and a recent Gartner report.

Tech research and consultancy firm Gartner projects that by 2024, personal data will be covered by privacy regulations for 75 percent of the world’s population.

Effective data protection regulation is considered a priority by many in countries with expanding digital identity systems, like India and Nigeria.

To Hughes, when properly shared and collaborated on, health data can play an important role in improving healthcare services and saving lives, while financial data can be very crucial in protecting people from financial fraud.

However, he notes that in order to ensure data safety, enterprises must adopt a privacy-first approach, which he says can be made possible by using the right technology, and by having in place a “data-driven C-suite.”

Data-driven C-suites such as chief privacy officers, chief compliance officers and chief information security officers are experts who have the knowledge to operationalize privacy requirements and make the most of the data management technology in place, Hughes opines.

In addition, the official suggests that enterprises must also ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in the way they share and collaborate on data in order to maintain data privacy and confidentiality.

In this light, he makes reference to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the United States’ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as examples of regulations to rely on when dealing with questions on how data can be accessed or collaborated on.

“With the right technology and the reassurance they can collaborate within regulatory compliance boundaries, enterprises can now tap into data’s true potential. Crucially, they can do so while protecting their customers and the public while delivering major advancements in public health and financial security,” concludes Hughes.

Personal data protection regulation adoption to continue

Gartner’s report also advises organizations to pay greater attention to five privacy trends to enable them cope with the exigencies of personal data protection, according to an announcement highlighting key findings of the report.

It also predicts that with growing privacy regulation efforts by governments and organizations, many of them will in the nearest future see the need to initiate privacy programs, with average spending on this by large organizations projected to surpass $2.5 million by 2024.

“By year-end 2024, Gartner predicts that 75% of the world’s population will have its personal data covered under modern privacy regulations. This regulatory evolution has been the dominant catalyst for the operationalization of privacy,” comments Nader Henein, VP Analyst at Gartner. “Since most organizations do not have a dedicated privacy practice, the responsibility for operationalizing these requirements is passed onto technology, more specifically security, under the umbrella of the CISO’s office.”

According to Gartner, the five trends organizations have to focus on to solve the data protection equation include data localization, privacy-enhancing computation techniques, artificial intelligence governance, centralized personal user experience, and a human-centric approach to data privacy.

Article Topics

data privacy  |  data protection  |  data sharing  |  Gartner  |  privacy  |  regulation  |  World Economic Forum