Data Privacy Trends: How Data Privacy May Evolve In 2021 and Beyond?

Data privacy has become the most crucial thing these days not only for businesses but customers too all over the world. The latter remain very careful as to what data is being shared or collected by the party they are interacting with. In the last couple of years, there has been a massive improvement in regards to the protection of customer data with the compulsion of compliances like GDPR and CCPA.

The data privacy trends in 2021 are expected to reinforce user privacy. Let’s have a look at the expected changes or trends that might come into play in the following years and beyond.

1. Data Privacy Automation

The rise in data privacy laws and regulations has undoubtedly made users feel more secure about their personal data but at the same time has brought certain challenges for organizations. With manifold privacy laws in place and more coming in force, it would be a grueling task for companies to keep a track of the laws they must adhere to. This has shifted the focus towards data privacy automation and thus has led developers to build software that automates data privacy. That being said, it can help enterprises efficiently respond to privacy requests, comply with the requirements, and more.

Data privacy automation is likely to be adopted by more and more organizations in 2021 considering that there were 331 breach notifications (on average) reported per day in Europe in 2020 which resulted in a loss of $8.64 million.

2. More Awareness Amongst Users

As we mentioned earlier, users are very concerned now regarding how third-party apps and websites collect their data. They are willing to sacrifice even their favorite apps for that matter. A recent example is the popular messaging app WhatsApp which compelled users to switch to other similar platforms because of its new privacy regulations. Users value their data seriously and are not willing to compromise their privacy at any cost.

The awareness has increased among users. Before signing up on an app or granting certain permissions to the service provider, they carefully examine what access do they need, whether it is indeed compulsory for it to operate, and how they tend to collect the user data for their use.

Though having awareness is good for the users, it could turn out to be worrisome for some companies that don’t reflect transparency about which third parties are able to access sensitive data.

3. More Data Privacy Laws

Most organizations have now become accustomed to the major data privacy laws and have adjusted them in their business ever since they were made mandatory. General Data Protection Law (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are the most followed privacy laws worldwide. The former applies to the businesses who collect and process the data of the EU citizens or residents even if they (businesses) are not situated in the EU while the latter regulates how businesses worldwide are allowed to collect the data of the California residents. However, data privacy laws won’t be restricted to these two as more laws are expected to come into force in more regions in the future.

As per a report by Gartner, 65% of the world’s population will have their personal data covered under a regional or global privacy regulation by 2023; a 10% rise from what it was in 2020. Organizations will have to keep up with forthcoming privacy laws.

4. Better Transparency

2021 would bring more transparency in the data collected by the organizations, primarily B2C companies. This would infuse more trust amongst the consumers. Users have stated in the past that they would be willing to place more trust in companies that keep transparency in the way they use the collected information or offer them better control over it.

Users will also become more aware of their rights, and their approach and attitude towards data privacy and transparency will force companies to introduce the needed changes.

5. Data officers will have a major role to play

The increasing number of data and privacy-related laws would mean that the role of a chief data officer or privacy leader will be preeminent now. Organizations will heavily rely on these internal privacy managers, data scientists, and privacy executives to keep the business compliant and ethical, in regards to the user data they collect and process.

Gartner also predicted that over 1 million organizations will have a data protection/data privacy officer by the end of 2022.

6. More Related Jobs

The COVID-19 pandemic brought some long-term changes and new data privacy regulations along with it. That being said, organizations might face certain security challenges, thereby increasing further demand for cybersecurity talent. As of now, there is a shortage of cybersecurity experts and information security analysts in the data privacy world. But things might change in the coming years. As per the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the job outlook for security analysts will jump 31% by 2029. In fact, there has been a remarkable increase in the hiring for the role of chief privacy officer or data protection officer in recent years.

7. Reduced Data Collection

Businesses try to collect and store as much user data as possible for better marketing strategies, better communication with their target audience, and better growth. However, a high number of data breaches lately have cleared one thing- data equals liability. The more data they collect, the more the liability, and more data collection also makes a business vulnerable to data breaches. That is why businesses have started to examine the applications and the processes used to obtain customer data and keep only the ones that are most relevant for them. This approach towards reduced data collection will likely continue in 2021 and beyond as more strong data collection laws come into force.

8. Third-party Risk Management

2021 will put a key focus on third-party (vendors, suppliers, partners, etc.) risk management and risk assessment. Research by Gartner reveals that compliance programs have kept a keen focus on third-party risk more than ever before, with more than twice the number of compliance leaders considering it a top risk in 2019.

Companies will have to invest more effort into vetting the third parties they work with and protect themselves against potential risks through third-party partner evaluation and agreements.

The upcoming data privacy changes, updates, or trends only imply that user data will be given the utmost priority and there will be no compromises made whatsoever in that regard. Organizations will also start investing more into cybersecurity solutions revolved around data protection.