Increasing profits through data protection

Philipp Rosenauer
Partner Legal, PwC Switzerland

Data protection is an opportunity for companies in many ways. The value of data is well known. It’s an almost inexhaustible resource that can be used repeatedly and holds gigantic potential for innovation and growth. However, in order for this potential to be fully exploited, certain basic requirements must be met. This is precisely where the difficulty often lies. In the following article, we’d like to show some examples of how the right data protection system can reduce your expenses and increase your profitability.

Data protection is a topic of increasing relevance. In business as well as in politics and society, awareness of and demands for the issues and problems involved are constantly increasing. In order to meet the resulting requirements, companies have to incur considerable expenses and expend a tremendous amount of effort.

Dynamic and flexible solutions are needed. Data protection systems must be designed in such a way that they can adapt to new circumstances quickly and efficiently – and without incurring high costs and effort – and are ready for use. They must be able to deliver maximum protection for businesses, as well as customers, without hindering innovation and the ability to leverage data.

In the following, we’d like to show you various examples of where you can save costs and effort:

1. Collapsing compliance costs

  • A static data protection system prevents a company from quickly and efficiently reviewing new systems and/or processes, for example, by means of a data protection impact assessment. Furthermore, employees can respond better and more easily to customer inquiries, which promotes customer satisfaction. Likewise, data that’s no longer needed or that poses a high risk can be more easily identified and, if necessary, purged or destroyed. This reduces the amount of data a company faces, reduces it to the essentials and promotes efficiency.
  • In case a company shares its data with third parties, it’s very important to know which data was shared and where it’s stored. When a user chooses to revoke consent or have their data deleted, the company needs to ensure that their choice is reflected not just in its own datasets, but also wherever it’s shared that data. Again, the right data protection system can help ensure, through contracts and protocols, where the data received goes, what happens to it and, if in doubt, how to access it as quickly as possible.

2. Maximising data utilisation

  • It can also happen that every form of data processing is to be ‘controlled’, even if it wouldn’t fall under any of the regulations. As a result, a company slows down its own work process and itself and often tends to bombard its customers with information about data processing and consent requests until the customer, completely frustrated, refuses any form of data processing. While no regulation can be broken in this way, vast amounts of potential data are also lost.
  • Perhaps one of the most important points is to increase trust and protect one’s reputation. A company that’s known for being unreliable with its customers’ data will often be confronted with the reality that not only fewer new customers can be generated, but also more and more existing customers will leave as soon as a suitable alternative arises. Through transparency and responsible handling of data, a company can strengthen the trust of its customers and encourage new customers to use its services. This gives the company more and more data that it can use to drive its own innovation and growth. So, it’s a two-way door. The right data protection system not only protects companies from sanctions and data subjects from infringements, but it also boosts performance and opens up new opportunities.

3. Mitigating risks

  • Currently, data protection primarily relates to personal data, but developments indicate that all forms of data will soon be covered and regulated by data protection regulations. Instead of developing a new system repeatedly, a dynamic data protection system can help to adopt even such changes quickly and smoothly.
  • Due to the worldwide increase in data protection laws, companies run the risk of violating regulations in several countries at the same time. To prevent this, the company’s data protection system must be structured in such a way that it not only detects such changes in good time but can also be adapted to the new situation quickly and without great difficulty. 

In summary, so much more can be achieved through the right data protection system than simply being compliant with legal requirements. Data protection is a living and dynamic field and should be treated as such in its application. If you do this, you can achieve a lot. Our experts at PwC not only help your company implement and maintain such a system, tailored to your needs and those of your clients, we also help you familiarise, sensitise and train your employees. 


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Contact us

Philipp Rosenauer

Philipp Rosenauer

Partner Legal, PwC Switzerland

Tel: +41 58 792 18 56

Adrien Tharin

Adrien Tharin

Director | Head of FinTech, Blockchain and Digital Assets, PwC Switzerland

Tel: +41 58 792 92 24