• by Ray Schultz , June 17, 2020

Privacy is important to 86% of businesses, and 5% say it is very much so, according to the TrustArc Global Benchmarks Survey, a study by security firm TrustArc.

In addition, 90% agree that they are mindful of privacy as a business, with 42% strongly agreeing.

Overall, they seem well plugged in to the issue. 

Of those polled, 84% say privacy is a core part of their business strategy, and 37% strongly agree.

Moreover, 86% claim that everyone from the board of directors to front-line personnel knows their role in protecting privacy, with 38% strongly agreeing.

However, 16% disagree that they view privacy as a key differentiator.

And only 28% have complete confidence in their firm’s privacy protection, with 45% saying they have a great deal. The remainder have some, very little or none. 

The U.S. meets the average in having complete confidence, with the UK and Europe slightly below. 

Asked to list their top three privacy initiatives, the surveyed executives cited these:

• Trained employees — 100%
• Adjust policies — 83%
• New regulations — 78% 
• Adjusted transparency — 58%
• Rights requests — 55%
• New incident response — 53%
• New processes — 51%
• Hired specialists — 35% 

Oddly, 26% in the U.S. use no primary software, compared with 19% overall. 

When scoring their solutions for effectiveness, 37% say they are very easy to use, and 31% that they’re very effective in integrating and aligning. 

Among the top three challenges chosen by respondents:

• Staying current — 100% 
• Managing risks — 93% 
• Internal training — 76%
• Vendor management — 68% 
• Maintaining records decisions — 67%
• Data inventory — 66% 
• Individual rights — 64% 
• Consent management — 57%
• Maintaining records processing — 57% 
• Privacy by design — 57%
• Hiring — 43%

Here are their main technology challenges:

• Automating processes — 19%
• Ease of administration — 18% 
• Tracking how personal data is being processed for various purposes — 18%
• Integrating with related compliance, risk, and data management processes — 16%
• Customizing to our needs — 16%
• Automotive repetitive processes — 16%
• Keeping current with requirements — 15%
• Detecting data breaches — 15%
• Tracking trends over time — 15% 
• Aligning with our actual business practices — 15% 
• Providing privacy assessments (e.g., PIA, DPIA, etc.) — 15% 
• Alerting to vulnerabilities and/or breaches — 14%
• Responding to customer/client requests — 14% 
• Reporting internally — 14% 
• None/no current deficiencies — 14% 
• Offering the infrastructure and content to train staff — 13%
• Reporting to regulators — 11% 
• Providing adequate security measures — 9%
• Prioritizing requirements — 0%

TrustArc surveyed 1,503 executives across several industries in the U.S., Europe, Canada and the UK, and minor percentages in Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.