TrustArc Releases 2nd Annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Report

Findings Show Nearly 75% of Decision-Makers Agree That More Needs to Be Done to Address Growing Privacy Challenges

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Jun 02, 2021, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TrustArc, the leader in data privacy management and automation, today released its 2021 TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks Report. Now in its second year, the Global Privacy Benchmarks Report highlights how companies' priorities and strategic approaches to data privacy and security are evolving and what their top challenges in privacy management and compliance readiness are.

Key findings from the report include:

Privacy is becoming a priority at the highest levels: 83% of enterprises have created formal Privacy Offices this year compared with 67% in 2020, an increase of 16 percentage points.
Privacy work is never done: Across all roles, from senior executives to full-time employees, 73% agree or strongly agree they should do more on privacy.
Increasing security risks are a key factor in privacy prioritization: Cybersecurity risks from third parties or attackers are a top privacy concern for leaders, with 51% highlighting it as their top challenge for 2021.
As threats grew, privacy improved: The TrustArc Global Privacy Index median score climbed to 70% in 2021 (from 62% last year), with top quartile companies at 85% or better, up from 79%.

"Regulatory changes are being introduced at record pace and, based on the results of the Privacy Benchmarks Survey, organizations are clearly moving fast to prioritize privacy management," said Chris Babel, CEO of TrustArc. "We're seeing more formal process implementation specific to privacy, which further supports how privacy prioritization is shifting, and companies are increasingly adopting purpose-built software to address ongoing needs that, without software, would present immense challenges."

The independent report, conducted by Golfdale Consulting, found that companies enhanced their privacy management strategies substantially within the last year. The use of purpose-built privacy software stood out in increasing competence and confidence in an enterprise's ability to manage privacy.

"While there's evidence that stand-alone solutions can be effective in managing specific compliance requirements such as cookie consent, our data indicates that companies that have implemented a comprehensive strategic and reportable privacy management platform score significantly higher on the Global Privacy Index," said Dr. Gary Edwards, co-founder and president of Golfdale Consulting. "Maintaining a privacy culture that permeates from the Board of Directors through the ranks, as well as incorporating privacy into core business strategy, were other distinguishing features of these privacy leaders."

TrustArc released PrivacyCentral in March of this year, a solution designed specifically to address these ongoing privacy challenges — now identified in the survey. PrivacyCentral allows users to continuously detect, analyze and determine which laws apply to their unique business, evaluate requirements across all applicable laws and regulations, and view insights by law or evaluate multiple laws at once. Users are also provided with the insights necessary to shift quickly and plan pragmatically as regulations change.

To learn more about the TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, please visit info.trustarc.com/Web-Resource-2021-05-26-Global-Benchmarking-Report_LP.html.

About TrustArc
As the leader in data privacy, TrustArc automates and simplifies the creation of end-to-end privacy management programs for global organizations. TrustArc is the only company to deliver the depth of privacy intelligence, coupled with the complete platform automation, that is essential for the growing number of privacy regulations in an ever-changing digital world. Headquartered in San Francisco, and backed by a global team across the Americas, Europe and Asia, TrustArc helps customers worldwide demonstrate compliance, minimize risk and build trust. For additional information visit www.trustarc.com.

About the TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
TrustArc commissioned Golfdale Consulting to conduct the TrustArc Global Benchmarks Survey that included 1,630 respondents from primarily $500M+ size companies with head offices in the U.S., Europe and the U.K. and operations well distributed globally.

SOURCE TrustArc