Looking Ahead To Data Privacy In 2021
December 18, 2020
The adage asserts that hindsight is 20/20, and the events of the last year seem to have supported that claim, especially as it relates to the tradition of New Year’s predictions. The Covid-19 pandemic upended the status quo, leaving many of last year’s prognostications null and void.
I certainly cannot blame folks for being hesitant to offer previews of 2021, but I believe we will see a handful of clear trends for businesses as they relate to data privacy, based on the continued surge in data creation and monetization, combined with the momentum of new privacy regulations.
A new data management and access model will emerge.
Data is the foundation for any organization’s success, and it provides invaluable insight. However, there are also more restrictions and considerations on how it must be protected while at rest and while being shared. So, with the rise of data monetization (data selling) and data sharing, organizations will need to protect data in motion via new computation models that incorporate privacy-preserving analytics and innovative architectural models. Such models will also have to keep privacy referendums in mind — like California’s recently passed California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and the EU’s GDPR. Organizations are gleaning new ways to extract value from data.
How companies should react: In 2021, organizations will have to be more deliberate in their interactions to make sure all their data’s competing interests are satisfied while ensuring ROI. Incorporating “data as a service” solutions will enable organizations that collect, analyze and responsibly share wide swaths of data with outside organizations to create unprecedented revenue opportunities.