Data compliance encompasses the procedures aimed at guaranteeing that an organization's management of data adheres to pertinent legal requirements, regulations, and industry benchmarks concerning data privacy and security. Notable regulations include:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Their primary objective is to safeguard sensitive information against unauthorized access, utilization, or disclosure. The fundamental purpose of data compliance is to ensure that a company's handling and utilization of data respects the rights of the public — and to establish controls for safeguarding privacy, ensuring availability, and preventing misuse.
Why Is Data Compliance Important?
Both public and private sector entities bear a fiduciary duty to safeguard the data integral to their business operations. Standards, regulations and governing principles for data security, privacy and protection enable secure data management. They also play a crucial role in IT security audits — and inability to demonstrate compliance often leads to unfavorable audit outcomes and corrective measures.
Importance of Good Data Retention and Destruction Policies
Data retention ensures regulatory compliance and aids in:
- Business insights: Information on how much data is stored and how much has been deleted.
- Legal protection: Less data means lower legal discovery cost and reduced exposure to lawsuits.
- Disaster recovery: Less stored data means less backup/restore time and lower storage cost.
- Historical reference: A clear audit trail of when information was deleted and by whom.
- Reduced environmental impact: Less data in the SAP landscape leads to significant energy savings.
Data destruction policies are equally critical for security, privacy, cost efficiency, and legal liability. Balancing the retention of necessary data with the secure disposal of unnecessary information is essential to safeguard data and comply with regulations while optimizing storage and operational costs.
How Neev Can Help with Your Data Compliance Needs
In a data-centric world marked by increased regulatory scrutiny, Neev streamlines the implementation of retention and privacy policies for data and documents within SAP systems. Our Audit and Compliance solutions leverage Neev Data Management add-ons together with SAP and third-party software, tailored to your business needs.
Key features include:
- A unified, early archiving strategy spanning SAP and non-SAP systems.
- Versatile storage options for long-term retention, including on-site storage and all major cloud storage providers.
- The ability to define complicated country-specific retention rules and legal holds for both online and archived data.
- The ability to extract data from SAP systems in cases of divestiture.
- Flexible data masking or encryption to safeguard sensitive online and archived data at field, table or system level.
- Automated data purging at the end of its lifecycle.
- Views and reports to facilitate the review and audit of retention rules, legal holds, and purging activities.
Meeting Retention Requirements
Complying with retention mandates is formidable, particularly for global enterprises subject to multiple corporate, industry and jurisdictional demands. Neev empowers organizations to apply intricate retention requirements to both online and archived data — ensuring SAP systems remain compliant and adaptable to evolving standards.
Securing Access to Data & Documents
Sensitive data security is paramount; rapid retrieval is crucial for audit and inquiry response. Neev simplifies securing and accessing information throughout its lifecycle — from creation through archiving to destruction.
Data Carveout During Divestitures
Neev supports accelerated data carveout and the decommissioning of legacy systems within SAP environments — enabling seamless transitions during divestitures and other corporate transformations.
The 5 Key Data Protection Regulations
1. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The EU's prominent response to privacy concerns, effective in 2018, GDPR grants consumers authority over their personal data. It safeguards personally identifiable information of customers and employees — names, biometric data, identification numbers, IP addresses, locations and telephone numbers. Noncompliance can result in fines up to 4% of global annual turnover or €20M, whichever is greater.
2. HIPAA Privacy Rule
A US federal regulation safeguarding personal data — specifically medical records and personal health information. HIPAA defines the responsibilities of healthcare providers and health-plan organizations. Penalties reach $1.5M per year for each category of violation.
3. Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act
Mandates that US financial institutions secure their data management systems given the sensitive nature of consumer financial information. Applies to banks, lenders, brokerages, debt collectors and investment advisors. Intentional violations can carry criminal penalties.
4. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act
Empowers the FTC to take legal action against businesses for "unfair or deceptive acts or practices," including misleading information about privacy and security on apps or websites. Applies universally across industries.
5. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Guarantees personal data rights for California residents — including the right to know what information is collected, opt out of sale, delete collected information, correct inaccurate records, and limit usage. Companies outside California often adopt CCPA standards as a template.
Get in Touch with Neev
In a data-centric world, Neev simplifies compliance with streamlined solutions for data retention and privacy. Get in touch with us today to fortify your data compliance strategy.