Data Privacy Forecast: 2021 On Pace to Be a Milestone Year

In watching regulatory developments and engaging with clients throughout the pandemic, my colleagues within FTI Consulting's Technology segment have gathered a series of predictions for how data privacy and regulatory issues will evolve in 2021. The team was unanimous in agreeing that the combined effects of remote employees, new workplace collaboration tools, stringent data protection enforcement in many global jurisdictions and an anticipated increase in regulatory oversight under the Biden administration will place renewed pressure on corporations to have their governance, risk and compliance programs in sound working order. Many also anticipate spending on privacy and security initiatives to increase, and the role of privacy professionals to become more business-critical within multinational corporations. Numerous internal and external variables are also expected to influence change in how organizations manage their data and define their risk tolerance.

Chris Zohlen, a Senior Managing Director pointed out that privacy risk will reach beyond impacting legal and compliance matters in 2021: "Privacy will continue to be a big focus. For example, as data privacy risk grows, it will increasingly impact M&A deal valuations. As a result, data privacy diligence will gain traction in M&A, similar to when cybersecurity diligence emerged in recent years. Under the newly passed California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), organizations will be looking to refresh and validate their data retention schedules and take other steps to ensure compliance."