Leveraging NDMO as a chance to maximize business value
The National Data Management Office (NDMO), which serves as the country’s data regulator, was established by the Saudi Arabian government as a significant step toward data governance and management. The important elements that contribute to a successful NDMO implementation are provided to Saudi leaders in a variety of industries, particularly data leaders and compliance leaders, in this white paper.
Introduction
Data is generated at an increasing rate as Saudi Arabia’s digital economy grows in line with Vision 2030 aspirations. There is a significant chance that this data flood may yield original ideas and produce measurable economic benefit. The bulk of that potential, nevertheless, is not realized by Saudi entities because the data is not properly prepared, organized, or managed. The increasing hazards connected to sensitive and personal data also pose a challenge to realizing the full potential of the gathered data.
By creating the National Data Management Office (NDMO), which serves as the national data regulator under the direction of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), the Saudi Arabian government has made a significant advancement in data governance and management. For the purpose of establishing and overseeing efficient data management procedures amongst entities, the NDMO released the Data Management and Personal Data Protection Standards, which include the necessary guidelines and controls. The goal of NDMO’s guidelines is to assist organizations in managing their data as assets and maximizing its potential for innovation and economic growth at the local, state, and federal levels.
Similar initiatives are being made all over the world; recently, national data legislation covering both enablers that allow data exchange and safeguards that protect market participants’ rights has been enforced in several nations. For example, the European Union (EU) released the Data Governance Act on June 23, 2022, with the goal of expanding the amount of data that can be reused within the EU to support data-driven innovations and allow for lower costs associated with data collection. In contrast, the Saudi NDMO rule proved to be more extensive because it addressed every aspect of data management and control.
The NDMO architecture, which spans 15 distinct data domains and has hundreds of specifications that must be implemented within the strict deadlines set by SDAIA, is too vast and complex for Saudi enterprises to ignore. This blog 8aims to first highlight the major obstacles that usually come up when starting NDMO initiatives, and then it will give Saudi executives from a variety of industries—particularly data leaders and compliance leaders—the essential elements that contribute to an effective NDMO implementation.
The Definition of Personal Data by the NDMO
The most fundamental definitions of personal data under the NDMO framework are as follows:
Anything that could be used to identify a Saudi Arabian citizen, either alone or in conjunction with additional data, including a person’s name, address, credit card number, Saudi National Identity ID number, health information, images, or videos.
Processing personal data includes gathering, transferring, recording, storing, exchanging, and erasing it—either automatically or manually.
Adopting the NDMO Framework in Eight Steps
Ensuring uniformity, minimizing human error, and streamlining processes are all possible with automated NDMO compliance. The following eight actions will help Saudi Arabian organizations comply:
1.Data Identification and Classification: Start with a thorough data discovery procedure. Find, organize, and categorize the vital, private, and sensitive information held by your company.
Automate Scanning: Make use of data discovery technologies to set up an automated system for scanning and classifying data according to pre-established guidelines and criteria.
2.Encryption and access controls: Put access controls in place To make sure that only individuals with permission can access sensitive data, automate role-based access control. Automate data encryption for both in-transit and at-rest data to satisfy security regulations.
3. Automated tools for real-time security: incident monitoring and detection should be implemented for incident response.
Automated notifications: Configure notifications to be sent out automatically in the event of suspicious activity or breaches.
Automate the incident reporting procedure to guarantee that the NDMO and the impacted parties are informed on time.
4. Consent Management: Consent Collection: Automate consent gathering procedures so that people can simply provide, amend, or withdraw their consent. Documentation: To prove compliance, automatically keep consent documents.
5. Data Lifecycle Management: Automated Deletion: Make sure data is kept for the bare minimum of time by putting automated data deletion procedures in place.
Archiving: To maintain information as required for legal or business purposes, automate data archiving.
6. Cross-Border Data Transfers: Evaluation and Authorization Automate the evaluation of international data transfers and, if required, request automatic approvals.
Data Protection Assessments: For these transfers, do privacy impact assessments (PIA) using automated techniques.
7. Reporting and Compliance Monitoring: Automated Compliance Monitoring: Use compliance monitoring systems to track and analyze compliance with NDMO guidelines in real time.
Automated Reporting: Create compliance reports automatically for NDMO reporting and internal monitoring.
8. Automated Training Modules for Employees: Provide staff with automated training modules to make sure they understand their responsibilities regarding compliance.
Testing and Certification: To ensure that staff members are aware of their tasks, automate testing and certification procedures.
How Compliance Foresight Helps?
A Compliance Foresight is GRC automation platform that provides real-time insights on regulatory compliance, risk management, and data governance. In order to support proactive decision-making within the National Data Management Office,
This helps the organization to onboard compliance journey with ease and start their compliance tracking with all departments participating in reporting the compliance levels.
