The clock is ticking. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes in to effect in May 2018. It will require new privacy and data protection regulations on any organisation that offers goods or services to people in the European Union, or that collects and analyses data tied to EU residents.
The GDPR has new requirements to:
- Provide individuals with more control over their personal data
- Ensure transparency about the use of data
- Use security and controls to protect data
Businesses need to start preparing for GDPR now as failure to comply with GDPR could lead to costly fines further down the line.
The role of technology in meeting GDPR compliance
Technology needs to be one of the key considerations for any organisation in making decisions about meeting its GDPR requirements and mitigating the risks.
Opportunity, not a threat.
The GDPR gives IT departments the perfect opportunity to review their technology portfolio and ‘tidy up’ the way they record, control and store client information.
How Acora can help
As a first step, Acora recommends that businesses develop a GDPR technology framework like the one below. Armed with your technology framework, you can then undertake a technology functionality gap analysis, whereby the technology-driven requirements of the GDPR are assessed against the technology capabilities of your organisation.
We can work with you to help you identify the gaps in your technology portfolio and recommend the technical solutions to plug those gaps.
Maximise your current technology capabilities
Even if you already have the technology in place, you may not be using it to its full potential. Many organisations are needlessly reaching for new solutions without exploiting the full features of their existing technology stack.
We can help you identify and implement the compliance & security features within your current technology (such as Office 365 and Microsoft Azure) to help you be compliant.
Discover
Identify what personal data you have and where it resides
Step 1 – Assess internal technology capabilities
Step 2 – Determine what technologies you need to adopt
Acora recommends:
- TermSet
- Palo Alto Apeture
- Microsoft Office365 eDiscovery
- Advanced Data Governance
- Microsoft Information Protect
Manage
Govern how personal data is used and accessed by employees
Step 1 – Assess internal technology capabilities
Step 2 – Determine what technologies you need to adopt
Acora recommends:
- Microsoft Azure AD Premium
- Microsoft Information Protect
- Azure Rights Management
- Office365 Data Loss Prevention
- Microsoft InTune
Protect
Establish security controls to prevent, detect and respond to attack and data breaches
Step 1 – Assess internal technology capabilities
Step 2 – Determine what technologies you need to adopt
Acora recommends:
- Palo Alto Next Generation Firewalls
- Sophos SafeGuard
- Microsoft BitLocker & SQL Transparent Data Encryption
- Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection
- Microsoft Information Protect
- Microsoft Conditional Access
- Multi-Factor Authentication
Report
Execute on data requests, report data breaches, and keep required documentation
Step 1 – Assess internal technology capabilities
Step 2 – Determine what technologies you need to adopt
Acora recommends:
- AlienVault SIEM
- Office 365 Advanced Security Management
- Office365 Security & Compliance Centre
- Microsoft Compliance Manager (Preview)
- TermSet
Register for our technology gap analysis workshop today!
- Identify maturity along key GDPR scenarios
- Assess customer’s preparedness to execute on Discover, Manage, Protect, & Report activities
- Determine the current operational state of necessary technical security controls
- Provide headline remediation action plan
We can design, build and integrate your GDPR technology portfolio
As a Managed Services’ provider, we are not tied to any particular vendor. Our GDPR product portfolio comprises a number of vendors’ solutions. All have been carefully chosen and mapped to the requirements of the GDPR.
With your internal technology capabilities confirmed and additional requirements agreed, our cloud architects can design, build and integrate your GDPR technology portfolio to help you meet your GDPR compliance obligations.
Finally, we can provide long term strategic support so that your technology design is future-proofed.
Our support ensures that you develop a working system to successfully:
- Enhance employee awareness to improve handling of PII.
- Carry out digital audits to continually assess what personal data you have and where it resides.
- Manage your IT environment to govern how personal data is used and accessed.
- Secure your organisation from threats to prevent, detect, and respond to vulnerabilities and breaches.
- Encrypt data so it cannot be accessed or read by a third party.
- Audit your system to report data requests and breaches, to demonstrate accountability and compliance.
Why Acora
- GDPR accredited consultants & GDPR technology specialists
- We can design, run, build and support your GDPR compliant platform
- Microsoft Gold Partner
- Excellent third-party vendor relations
- 2 x UK based 24/7 service desks
- ISO accredited
Acora technology partners
Our customers
Acora added the experience and capacity we needed during a period of intensive change. They were instrumental in driving the IT vision to support the sustained growth ambitions of our investors.
Robert Bell
CFO, Waterlogic (2012-2016)
A fantastic experience with Acora, they quickly understood our culture, offerings and journey. They have delivered a digital transformation plan that the board were happy to sponsor. The quality of the RfP process was extremely good, with high confidence that our customer portals and visualization will showcase our unique data.
Leigh Webb
CEO ISC Research
“Acora very quickly understood our business demands from IT and the challenges following a period of sustained growth. They garnered the respect of the team with their approach and recommendations, which were clear and practical.
Samir Hasan
Finance Director, Hugo Boss UK
Get in touch
The Acora team is ready and waiting to understand your challenges and see how we can help.
Contact details
Acora
Pegasus House, 1 Cranbrook Way, Shirley, Solihull B90 4GT
Acora
Acora House, Albert Drive, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9TN
01444 221123
International callers please use: +44 1444 221123