Sep 24 2018

Why your organisation should consider outsourcing its DPO

Category: GDPRDISC @ 2:47 pm

Why your organisation should consider outsourcing its DPO

By Laura Downes

Since the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect in May 2018, demand for DPOs (data protection officers) has increased. The Regulation stipulates that certain organisations must appoint a DPO to support their GDPR compliance. DPOs also have an essential role as intermediaries between relevant stakeholders, such as supervisory authorities, data subjects, and business units within an organisation. 

Your organisation will need to appoint a DPO if it:  

  • Is a public authority or body; 
  • Regularly and systematically monitors data subjects; or 
  • Processes special categories of data on a large scale. 

The GDPR does not stipulate the level of experience a DPO must have, meaning some organisations might appoint an internal team member who does not have the experience or qualifications required, leaving them wide open to error.  

Why you should consider outsourcing your DPO 

Suitably skilled and experienced DPO candidates are hard to find. Outsourcing the role not only satisfies the requirements of the GDPR but also ensures your organisation is employing proper data handling and privacy policies. Furthermore, there is no conflict of interest between the DPO and other business activities. 

An external DPO can work for your organisation on a fixed-fee or a per-hour basis. Signing up to a DPO service also means you can rely on several experienced DPOs rather than just one, which means more hands on deck should you ever suffer a breach. 

DPO as a service (GDPR) 

IT Governance’s annual subscription DPO service offers you hands-on support from one of our qualified DPOs, who will serve as independent data protection expert to your organisation. Your appointed DPO will: 

Find out more >> 


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