Data protection requires real-world solutions, not “vendor-speak”

Jim Barkdoll    ·      Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

Last month, Titus hosted our annual Data Protection Leadership Forum, which personally is one of my favorite events as I get to hear from, and connect with, security leaders from a variety of enterprises across Europe. These data protection and data security experts joined members of the Titus executive team to discuss the current state of the data protection market.

For the second year in a row, the experience was a great learning opportunity for me and my Titus colleagues as together we addressed the specific challenges facing security-focused organizations. Much of our wide-ranging dialogue centered on where security technology does—or does not—fit into their current solution strategy.

Of note, almost every scenario could be boiled down to these three elements:

• Determining the data flow throughout the organization
• How the data is secured enterprise-wide
• Who owns that process?

Enterprises deserve more than vendor-speak

Like many of you, I’ve worked in this industry for a long time. Every year, more and more vendors make claims that sound alarmingly alike.

Most of them are focused on showing the value of your data, so you can determine which data is subject to regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA.

While this makes great sense in theory, many of these claims continue to fall far short when they are tested in an actual production environment using live data.

Too often, vendor-speak has lots of “show” but little “go” in terms of offering pragmatic insights around the best way to prove data value.

I’m all in on prioritizing the value of data, but we need to cut through the noise and offer real-world insights on the best path forward.

Organizations will only see positive results from their data security initiatives when they understand exactly what data they have, and then determine how sensitive or valuable it is to the organization.

Equally important is knowing precisely where and how data flows within and outside the company. Armed with that knowledge, you can begin to take deliberate and decisive steps to better safeguard data.

Carrying the torch for data protection

Another topic that generated lots of conversation at the Data Protection Leadership Forum centered on finding the most effective internal champions for data security and privacy initiatives.

There are no easy answers here as the ever-increasing complexity of data protection projects necessitate strong and vocal advocates across the corporate org chart.

Traditionally, many data protection projects have been the domain of the CISO, at least budget-wise. But recent developments have shown us the emergence of the CDO as an instrumental driver on many new initiatives.

My observation has been that organizations with a CDO are more likely to be frontrunners in determining and implementing a salient and comprehensive data protection strategy.

Whether the CDO, CISO, or someone else takes the lead role is not as important as the necessity that someone does. While on the surface everyone nods when it comes to the importance of data protection, the responsibility can be daunting.

That said, there is one thing I am sure of – for such a project to succeed requires someone who is strong enough to step up, carry the torch and be an unwavering advocate for data protection.

To that person, Titus pledges proactive, responsive support. We also stand ready to help create company-wide consensus while fostering alignment among different organizational groups.

It’s all about outcomes

A recurring theme from our annual Data Protection Leadership Forums is the overarching need to empower data protection success. For most organizations, this entails thoughtful cultural and policy changes to ease adoption and compliance.

To establish a strong and sustainable data protection foothold, we need to provide the right tools and data insights that unite different organizational units and silos while providing measurable outcomes in terms of corporate compliance, improved data security, and greater personal data privacy efforts.

The topics discussed and challenges identified at this year’s event go a long way toward helping Titus stay focused on what matters most to our customers while addressing the biggest burning questions of the day.

Like last year, we came away feeling energized and eager to help companies plot the optimal data protection strategy for their particular environments.

That is our message to you, and we continue to deliver on it.