Fatima Nadine Khan
Chief Privacy Officer, Demandbase

GDPR could be the most disruptive event of the year for marketers. Last year, marketers spoke about the power of Intent Data and the way it could change the face of Customer Data Platforms and marketing performance forever. But, then came the long list of questions on the privacy of data! Today, every fifth company in the tech industry has either hired a legal counsel or added a Chief Privacy Officer to manage the probable disruptions. To get answers to all our questions on GDPR and the impact on privacy standards, we interviewed Demandbase’s Chief Privacy Officer, Fatima Nadine Khan.

Tell us about your journey as a Privacy Officer in the tech industry?

I began my career interested in privacy issues faced by technology companies. It’s been especially exciting to work with adtech/martech companies because they face a lot of scrutiny, yet still manage to consistently adapt to this dynamic area of law by providing innovative solutions to resolve concerns about privacy. For example, companies have implemented just-in-time notices for mobile, alternative SDKs, and more granular privacy choices. As both consumer and regulatory concerns continue to increase, the last few years have served as a starting point for privacy and it will only become more important in the future.

How do you see a Chief Privacy Officer working in sync with the Chief Marketing Officer, and the Chief Technology/Digital Officer in the organization?

It is essential for the CPO to work in sync with the CMO and CTO of an organization on data strategy. The three roles have the overlapping goal of ensuring a company’s valuable data assets are protected.  The CPO establishes the company’s approach to privacy and advises other stakeholders on how to accomplish business goals while respecting the law and privacy principles.

Would GDPR be the biggest disruption to data management and marketing intelligence ecosystems? How is Demandbase preparing for this disruption?

GDPR is definitely a disruption to the data management and marketing intelligence ecosystems. That said, this disruption should be viewed positively because it presents companies with a new opportunity to innovate by providing law-friendly privacy solutions to customers. Demandbase is preparing for this disruption by creating a compliance plan that includes addressing privacy concerns such as data subject access rights, re-evaluating internal processes, and increasing transparency for customers and individuals.

Should the DMPs, CDPs, and Account-based Marketing platforms get ready to tight their data privacy regulations in 2018?

The penalties under the GDPR are steep and DMPs, CDPs, and ABM platforms will need to take stock of their data inventory and make sure that any data collection, use, and sharing is done in compliance with the GDPR. The whole industry will have to take steps to adapt and comply with the new regulatory requirements.

Apart from GDPR, what other data privacy regulations and standards should global companies tune into?

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continuously enforces privacy law through the FTC Act in addition to regularly providing updated guidance on emerging privacy issues. Companies should stay up-to-date with FTC guidance and look to their industry for any self-regulatory guidelines established by industry associations, such as the Digital Advertising Alliance.

Do you think that the use of AI/ML technologies would help better manage and comply with the data privacy regulations? How do you leverage AI/ML as a Chief Privacy Officer?

AI/ML technologies can certainly help CPOs comply with privacy regulations on an operational level through assessing data inventory and discovering non-obvious data relationships. These types of automated assessments will allow CPOs to achieve a deeper understanding of the data and find trends that may not be feasible or available through implementing existing standard procedures.

Thanks for chatting with us, Fatima.
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Also Read: TechBytes with Christopher Golec, CEO, Demandbase