IT Trends

AI to Take Much Greater Role in Privacy Compliance

• By David Nagel
• 02/27/20

Artificial intelligence will power 40 percent of privacy compliance technologies within the next htree years. That’s up from 5 percent now, according to market research firm Gartner.

According to Gartner: “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 aid. This is where the use of AI-powered applications that reduce administrative burdens and manual workloads come in.”

Among the drivers, according to Gartner, is the need for organizations to respond quickly and accurately to subject rights requests (SRRs). “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 $1,400 USD, which pile up over time.”

Said Bart Willemsen, research vice president at Gartner, “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 Mr. Willemsen. “With the loss of customers serving as privacy leaders’ second highest concern, such tools will ensure that their privacy demands are met.”

The need for privacy compliance is creating a new technology market, one that Gartner predicts will rise to $8 billion through 2022.

“The privacy-driven technology market is still emerging,” said Willemsen. “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.”

Further information can be found at gartner.com.