In your opinion, is Data Privacy a topic that does not have much to do with purchasing or the daily objectives of the procurement professional?  Or, is reading Wall Street Journal articles about the unfortunate security breaches at other companies as close as you’ve come to thinking about protecting your company’s data assets? If you answered "yes" to either question, then it might be time to re-examine some areas where you can make a pre-emptive strike against unplanned financial losses.  By understanding the risks associated with data vulnerability and preventing just one incident, you could save your company thousands or even millions of dollars.

There is no price you can attach to your company’s brand name and reputation.  Even a whisper of a security breach could permanently destroy years of brand-building and seriously wound the trust of your loyal customer base. 

The causes surrounding data breaches vary. Recent press articles have revealed everything from professional hackers, to stolen PCs, to tapes falling off trucks. However, test data privacy is proving to be one of the most important areas that needs to be addressed by corporations.

Keeping sensitive data safe is a daunting and critical task. And because of looming mandatory federal and state regulations, coupled with widespread media coverage, protecting sensitive data is now an extremely high-profile task chartered to your company’s IT professionals.  Consequently, it is important that these individuals have the proper tools, people and methods not only to assess your company’s data privacy risks, but also to facilitate a thorough and efficient privacy assurance program.  If your IT organization already owns the Compuware products, they’re closer than they may think to complete their mission.

Additionally, because of the complexity, bleed-over between platforms, and cost issues surrounding data privacy assurance; Compliance Officers, Security Administrators, Application Managers and Quality Assurance Managers are looking to areas outside of their own department (including procurement), to assist them with new  budgetary challenges. All of these individuals are responsible for getting compliant--but at what cost?

While organizations may think that test data is immune from privacy threats or is less important than other risks, these environments are often more vulnerable. Test environments are less secure and may be exposed to a variety of unauthorized sources, including in-house testing staff, consultants, partners, and offshore development and support personnel. Securing test data is essential to avoid privacy abuses and data mishandling, and lower the cost of compliance as well.

Another area within compliance testing that may cost your company dollars is wasted system resources. If your company’s testing effort is not driven by a good methodology, solid products and skilled people, you could be incurring unnecessary MIPS and CPU consumption. Liability plays a role in testing as well.  For many companies, compliance efforts will be subject to ongoing audits and accordance must be proven.