DPO as a service
While a DPO doesn’t have to be a full-time role, it does require specialist data protection expertise. Having access to an experienced and knowledgeable outsourced DPO is a cost-effective solution for improving information security and compliance with data protection laws, such as the GDPR. Failing to protect personal data can not only lead to significant financial penalties from regulators, but also risks reputational damage to your organisation. By following tested and established best practices, an outsourced DPO helps to protect the data your organisation processes on your customers, suppliers and employees keep your organisation informed and advised about data protection and where necessary, cooperate with regulators on your behalf.
You benefit from a knowledgeable, hands-on data protection professional who undertakes the DPO’s responsibilities in an extremely cost-effective way, and is backed by the support, shared best practice and model documentation developed from Invocore’s experience of working with many organisations.
How Does a DPO As A Service Work?
Unlike other outsourced providers, our DPOs work with you, either at your offices or remotely, as an integral member of your team. They become immersed in your culture and take a proactive, rather than reactive approach to your requirements.
Account Management
Your DPO’s activities are monitored and managed by Invocore’s experienced project delivery team, so do not consume the time or distract the attention of your management team.
Client Services
The quality of the service we deliver is also monitored by our Head of Client Services, therefore providing the oversight necessary to ensure we always deliver an appropriate, structured, co-ordinated and quality-driven service.
Representing one of the key values of outsourcing, this therefore removes the overhead, risks and distractions that would otherwise be experienced by your internal resources, leaving them free to focus their efforts on developing your organisation further.
Schedule of Works
Our DPOs follow a tried-and-tested range of duties from a Schedule of Works that has been developed through working with our wide-range of clients. Each element of the Schedule of Works links back to the 7 principles of the GDPR, meaning we can clearly demonstrate and regularly report on where compliance levels improve and how risk is evolving and reducing over time.
Model Documentation
Engaging with The DPO Centre means you benefit from access to our constantly evolving and improving central pool of processes and proven model documentation. This means your assigned DPO makes use of tried and tested documentation and spends only the time necessary to tailor them to your requirements, rather than having to research and create them from scratch.
Primary and Secondary DPOs
When delivering an outsourced DPO service, The DPO Centre assigns both a primary and secondary DPO. Both will be involved in your initial onboarding process, meaning two DPOs remain familiar with your organisation, stakeholders and data landscape.
Your primary DPO takes responsibility for the role within the resource level agreed, but at no additional cost, the secondary DPO remains available to step in to cover any period of absence or to replace your primary DPO should it ever be required, therefore ensuring the delivery of a seamless service and removing the distraction, cost and inconvenience of ever needing to onboard a replacement DPO.
Expert Advice Line
The third tier of our ‘continuous support framework’ is our advice line service. The advice line provides you with access to our wider Data Protection Officer team on the remaining days of the month where your nominated DPO is not specifically assigned to you or is unavailable, therefore providing you with a cost-effective, full, month-round service.
The advice line acts like a ‘concierge service’ that ensures you are provided with answers to your questions directly, or where specific knowledge of your organisation or processing activities is required, they are escalated to your DPOs for a more detailed or personal response. Most importantly however, the problem is now ours to solve, not yours.
Large Data Protection Team
Your DPO will be drawn from a team of permanently employed DPOs, in fact, one of the largest DPO teams available, so they benefit from being able to consult with and draw knowledge from their colleagues such that any interpretations of law and decisions made are derived from a far wider and greater faceted knowledge base.
Being part of a wider team also means that additional resources and specific expertise can be brought in as and when required.
Knowledge & Expertise
Invocore has provided data protection related services to its clients from a wide variety of sectors. This means our team draws upon a breadth of knowledge far deeper than would be possible for a smaller, less experienced team to acquire and maintain.
Benefits Of Data Protection Officer Outsourcing
Fundamentally, we believe that when combined, the many benefits outlined above demonstrate the true value of outsourcing and therefore ensures that Invocore provides far greater value for this key role than is possible from a smaller team, a single independent contractor or an internal employee.
Invocore also has knowledge of numerous data protection and cyber security platforms, tools, vendors and software solutions, so provides informed guidance, reduced decision time and improved choice.
