Unintended Consequences as Marketing and New Data Privacy Regulations Collide

On the eve of the newest data privacy regulations, marketing teams are either fully entrenched or just scratching the surface of understanding the tactical requirements, as well as the potential near-term impact on the business of marketing. Traditionally, corporate compliance was off in the distance with little consequence to marketing teams otherwise focused on launching exciting new global programs and driving pipeline.

Marketing leaders must anticipate – and prepare for – unintended consequences of data privacy regulations. They may need to manage stakeholder expectations or adjust KPI’s, depending on the current state of an organizations’ privacy and security programs. This could require resource redirection for a few process changes in the current quarter, or it could be highly disruptive and potentially stall execution over several quarters.

The internal process burden these new regulations pose across teams cannot be overstated and may result in a lag or stall of current marketing activities. There are three major unintended consequences marketing must anticipate, and one call to action.

Halting or reevaluation of marketing activities in flight
New requirements for data privacy, breach readiness and continuous compliance cut across many groups with a potential for misalignment of requirements, as well as decision-making and governance that may take time to sort through. Due to the sudden inspection and activity across multiple functions (IT, security operations, compliance/privacy, marketing and sales), and different interpretations of the requirements by those functions, outbound marketing activities may be halted as many organizations scramble to understand, discuss and agree on what (Read more...)