Data privacy has become everyone’s responsibility and can now be your competitive advantage.
Personal information or data is at the heart of modern business and has become an extremely valuable asset.
Personal information or data is at the heart of modern business and has become an extremely valuable asset.
Personal information or data is at the heart of modern business and has become an extremely valuable asset. However, this technological and data-based economy presents a major threat to the privacy rights of data subjects, that are often overlooked by the fast pace and focused nature of corporate environments. In order to ensure that the privacy rights of data subjects remain protected the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) has been enacted to provide a clear legal framework for the lawful processing of personal information.
Complying with your obligations in terms of POPIA has become incredibly challenging as businesses face a growing volume of data, collected from multiple sources and used in increasingly complex ways, along with a highly sophisticated cyber security threat and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. With this complexity comes the increased risk of regulatory penalties, reputational damage, cyber threats, and even internal misuse.
The scale of exposure is far greater than many businesses realise. Legacy systems, sprawling data archives, unsecured endpoints, and inconsistent privacy practices across departments all contribute to potential breaches and non-compliance with security obligations. And yet, while many companies have appointed an Information Officer or published a privacy policy, it is crucial for them to also embed data privacy into the heart of their businesses and daily operations, a concept that is termed privacy by design.
In what follows, we will assess why privacy by design is more than just a legislative requirement and that there are major competitive advantages to ensuring that it becomes a strategic and operational priority. We will also canvass what you can do now to ensure legislative compliance, reduce risk, build trust, and future-proof your organisation.
The regulatory baseline
POPIA governs how South African organisations collect, store, use, and share personal information. The broad definition of personal information in POPIA means that it has a very wide net and includes most forms of confidential information including biometrics, personal opinions or in certain circumstances, the name of a person. Whilst it aligns closely with global standards like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) it differs in the crucial aspect of including the personal information of juristic entities within the ambit of the act. This means that responsible parties have additional burdens regarding their data subjects that are juristic entities as well as natural persons.
At its core, POPIA is built on eight conditions for lawful processing that all responsible parties are required to comply with. These include: accountability, processing limitation, purpose specification, further processing limitation, information quality, openness, security safeguards and data subject participation. There are also specific requirements for processing special personal information and the personal information of minors.
POPIA created the Information Regulator of South Africa which is empowered to enforce and regulate POPIA within the country. The Information Regulator has signalled its intention to take a firmer stance on enforcement. In 2023, it issued its first enforcement notice against a public sector entity for failing to secure personal data. The private sector is next. In parallel, consumers are becoming more informed about the priceless nature of personal information and their associated rights and are more likely to enforce these rights, raise complaints or withdraw their consent.
Organisations are thus required to be accountable for ensuring that the conditions set out in POPIA are given effect to, from the time that they determine the purpose and means of processing that information and then throughout the life cycle of that personal information within their organisations. The high level of regulatory burden can be overwhelming however such a regulatory regime can bring opportunities for competitive advantage and an opportunity to differentiate and elevate your service offering.
Data privacy is no longer just a risk to manage; it’s also an opportunity to create a competitive advantage.
Where businesses are most vulnerable
What’s often underestimated is the extent of everyday business operations that touch the personal information of both customers and employees.
Some common high-risk areas include:
A major concern is fragmentation, as data is rarely processed in one department or as a unified asset. Instead, it sits across departments, applications, devices, and backups. Without a clear map of where personal data lives and how it flows through the business, privacy risks multiply.
What businesses can do now
Meaningful action starts with embedding privacy into the business’s everyday processes. Here are six practical steps that can be taken by businesses to begin the process of ensuring that they instill privacy by design within their organisations:
You can’t protect what you don’t know exists. Start by identifying where personal information enters your business, where it’s stored, who accesses it, and where it’s shared. Look beyond customer systems; include HR platforms, email inboxes, WhatsApp groups, and external vendors.
A basic data inventory and flow diagram will help you identify high-risk areas and quick wins. For example, you may discover that employee payslips are stored in unencrypted folders, or that customer details are copied into spreadsheets for marketing purposes without consent tracking.
POPIA mandates that businesses only collect data that is “adequate, relevant, and not excessive” for a defined purpose, and that they do not keep it longer than necessary. But in many organisations, data is collected “just in case” and never deleted.
Review your Mandates, onboarding processes, and CRM fields. Are you collecting information you don’t really need? Establish clear retention schedules and implement automatic deletion where possible. Old, unused data is not an asset; it’s a liability.
Every person who can access personal data is a potential risk. That includes disgruntled employees, curious colleagues, or simply those with more access than they really need.
Audit access permissions regularly and apply the principle of least privilege: people should only be able to see the data they need to do their jobs. Revoke access immediately when employees leave or change roles. Use password managers and two-factor authentication to reduce weak security points.
One of the biggest causes of data breaches is human error. Examples of these include a rushed email with an incorrect attachment, including the incorrect email address in an email chain or failing to make use of more secure means of sharing information than emails.
By focusing staff awareness around the practical situations relevant to each department, privacy can be made real and relatable, rather than just theoretical.
Your privacy notice is your public commitment to customers and employees. It needs to be accurate, understandable, and reflect your actual practices. Avoid generic boilerplate language. Make sure it covers how data is used, for how long, and who it is shared with.
Equally important are your supplier contracts. If your vendors process personal data on your behalf — such as cloud hosting, payroll services, or customer platforms — you need to have data processing agreements in place. These should include POPIA-compliant clauses on the implementation of the required security measures, breach notification, and indemnification for the occurrence of data breaches caused by that vendor.
Under POPIA, if your organisation experiences a data breach, it means that the personal information of a data subject has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person and, you must notify the Information Regulator and affected individuals “as soon as reasonably possible.” This notification requirement has the potential of causing a host of legislative and reputational concerns.
It is therefore crucial that steps are taken to mitigate against the occurrence of data breaches, which can include awareness campaigns, strong procedural and operational requirements and in-depth root case analysis of previous incidents that result in amendments or enhancements to operating procedures.
Building trust through privacy
Consumers, employees, and partners are increasingly sensitive to how their data is used. A strong privacy posture can help build a trustworthy brand. Businesses that are transparent, responsible, and proactive with data will attract more loyal customers, retain better talent, and gain a reputational edge.
By the same token, poor data practices can destroy trust overnight. A single breach can trigger customer churn, media scrutiny, regulatory action, and lawsuits. Even without a breach, inconsistent privacy practices — like sending marketing emails without permission or sharing employee data with third parties — can raise serious concerns.
The question is no longer whether businesses need to care about data privacy, but rather: how integrated is privacy into your business operations? Is it something your people live and breathe, or just a policy on the website?
Data privacy is not a one-time project; it’s an ongoing business discipline. And in a world where trust is currency, it may be your most valuable investment yet.
