“Being able to provide the evidence to both partners and regulators that we are looking after customer’s data the right way is essential,” said Richard Barber, Data Protection Officer (DPO) at Smart Pension. “This is not only from a compliance standpoint, but it is crucial that our customers know we are managing their data safely and securely.”

Finding technology to balance innovation with data protection

In an industry that handles a great deal of personal information, ensuring ongoing compliance with the EU GDPR requirements was a vitally important task for the business. For one, Smart Pension is in a phase of rapid growth, so when getting ready for GDPR, it was crucial to achieve compliance while not inhibiting current business innovations and product growth.

Another challenge came from the company structure itself: Smart Pension is a processor, a sub processor, controller and/or a vendor as it rolls out its technology platform to other pension providers. This unique structure added to the complexity when approaching GDPR compliance efforts, and the firm proactively sought out specialist technology to help it balance this structure while ensuring data protection.

As Smart Pension began to search for a future proof solution to ensure ongoing compliance with GDPR, it was important to use a tool that would enable Smart to quickly document the data flows through processes, assets and vendors.

“When we were looking at the different tools that were available, OneTrust’s integrated approach made it stand apart,” said Barber. “That’s one of the main reasons we selected a full suite of OneTrust products, because they are all able to seamlessly work together, removing the need to enter the same data repeatedly, for example.”

A one-stop shop with OneTrust

Smart Pension faced the challenge of the new GDPR regulations head on with OneTrust, implementing a full suite of products including Assessment Automation, Data Mapping Vendor Risk Management and Incident & Breach Response. “OneTrust was a real one stop shop for us,” said Barber. “They were able to help us address all of our needs, while being cognizant of our unique business model and processes.”

OneTrust’s Assessment Automation powers the Smart Pension privacy team to roll out a tool to the business that enables employees to do many assessments themselves. This transitioned their business to where ownership of privacy was something that all the different departments within the business see as a key part of their role, embedding best practice across the business.