Gartner: Over 40% of privacy compliance technology will rely on AI in the next three years

Over 40 per cent of privacy compliance technology will rely on artificial intelligence by 2023, up from five per cent today, according to Gartner Inc.

“Privacy laws, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), presented a business case for privacy compliance and inspired many other jurisdictions worldwide to follow,” said Bernard Woo, senior research director at Gartner, in a statement.

“More than 60 jurisdictions around the world have proposed or are drafting postmodern privacy and data protection laws as a result. Canada, for example, is looking to modernize their Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), in part to maintain the adequacy standing with the EU post-GDPR.”

Privacy leaders are under pressure to ensure that all personal data processed is brought in scope and under control, which is difficult and expensive to manage without technology aids. This is where the use of AI-powered applications that reduce administrative burdens and manual workloads come in.

At the forefront of a positive privacy user experience is the ability of an organization to promptly handle subject rights requests (SRRs). SRRs cover a defined set of rights, where individuals have the power to make requests regarding their data and organizations must respond to them in a defined time frame.

According to the 2019 Gartner Security and Risk Survey, many organizations are not capable of delivering swift and precise answers to the SRRs they receive. Two-thirds of respondents indicated it takes them two or more weeks to respond to a single SRR. Often done manually as well, the average costs of these workflows are roughly US$1,400.

“The speed and consistency by which AI-powered tools can help address large volumes of SRRs not only saves an organization excessive spend, but also repairs customer trust,” said Woo. “With the loss of customers serving as privacy leaders’ second highest concern, such tools will ensure that their privacy demands are met.”

Global privacy spending on compliance tooling will rise to $8 Billion through 2022

Through 2022, privacy-driven spending on compliance tooling will rise to $8 billion worldwide, according to the company. Gartner expects privacy spending to impact connected stakeholders’ purchasing strategies, including those of CIOs, CDOs and CMOs. “Today’s post-GDPR era demands a wide array of technological capabilities, well beyond the standard Excel sheets of the past,” said Woo.

“The privacy-driven technology market is still emerging,” he added. “What is certain is that privacy, as a conscious and deliberate discipline, will play a considerable role in how and why vendors develop their products. As AI turbocharges privacy readiness by assisting organizations in areas like SRR management and data discovery, we’ll start to see more AI capabilities offered by service providers.”

The 2019 Gartner Security and Risk Survey was conducted in March and April 2019 to better understand how risk management planning, operations, budgeting and buying are performed. The research was conducted online among 698 respondents in Brazil, Germany, India, the U.S. and the UK. Qualifying organizations have at least 100 employees and $50 million (USD equivalent) in total annual revenue for fiscal year 2018.