Do you know how to protect data privacy when sharing data?

Security is essential in our modern data-rich world. Want to know how to protect data privacy when sharing data? We detail the most important considerations so you can partake in the new data economy and derive optimum value for your enterprise.

Data privacy definition

It’s all good and well to say the data privacy definition is a simplistic one: that is, to protect the privacy of anyone’s data – whether it be an individual or a corporation. But when it comes to the role of data sharing within the data economy, privacy and protection are so much more.

Data privacy is the glue that holds businesses together. Without it, the free-for-all to accumulate and house as much data as possible would send society into chaos. Individuals would have no faith in companies that want to know everything about them, while companies would lose the value of any collected data.

With data privacy policies that define how, when, where and why information can be collected and disseminated, organizations are able to leverage its true value and then use it to improve their own decision-making and business activities.

Data privacy laws

In recent years, you’ve probably heard a lot about the introduction of stricter rules and regulations around how data can be collected and shared. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which oversees entities within and connected to the European Union, is perhaps the most noteworthy, but plenty of other regions have developed and implemented their own policies to quell the growing threat of data misuse.

Data privacy laws are essential to the continued success of the data economy. They allow enterprises to safely and securely share their own data – and data from other relevant companies – without fearing their sensitive information will be misused. And with heavy penalties reserved for companies that disregard the appropriate regulations, it’s in all parties’ best interests to completely understand – and abide by – data privacy laws.

Why data privacy is important

There’s been a marked rise in the amount of data companies are collecting and storing – both on-site and in the cloud – over the past decade. So much so that experts say the volume of data that’s been created in the last two years equates to more than the entire history of the human race.

That mind-boggling amount of data should be reason enough to understand why data privacy is important. But beyond the size, many companies base their entire profitability on the success of their data – collecting it, storing it, analyzing it and sharing it. In order to do these things successfully, Chief Data Officers must feel confident that their operations won’t be compromised should they invest in a data sharing initiative.

With the right data privacy protections in place, they can elevate their business above their competitors by accessing unique, industry-specific information that they never would have had access to without data sharing.