Research consultancy names TCS as market leader in GDPR services
Much like the rest of the business environment, the world of consulting has had to make significant enhancements to its operations in light of GDPR being implemented this year, and TCS appears to have adapted to this new scenario proficiently, according to market research firm NelsonHall.
The General Data Protection Regulation act came into effect in April this year, and businesses have been scrambling to make their data gathering and utilisation practices more transparent and secure, particularly given the fact that failure to comply with GDPR stipulations invites a fine of up to $20 million.
"With growing concerns around the handling of personal data, we will only see more legislative interventions such as GDPR in the near future, forcing enterprises to prioritise spending on data privacy and security," said Satish Thiagarajan, TCS’ Global Head of its Cyber Security Practice.
Consulting firms with an IT bend have been consequently called into action to help with these efforts to comply, and some appear to have done better than others so far. TCS has been on a strong growth drive in recent times, and has managed to establish a comprehensive GDPR practice, earning it recognition as a leader in the domain from research consultancy NelsonHall.
TCS’ roster of GDPR-related services includes: readiness evaluations; assessments of privacy risks, policies and processes; data organisation polices and processes; categorisations between data with structure and without; integration of technology for detection purposes (DLP, IAM, etc); and implementation of new policies across company operations.
Most of these functions are administered within the scope of the firm’s unique MasterCraft DataPlus and Crystal Ball products, designed specifically for data management and consent management respectively. The sophisticated products are leveraged to prevent attacks such as the protracted one on Big Four professional services firm Deloitte, wherein the communications of nearly 250,000 employees were compromised over a period of six months.
NelsonHall evaluated GDPR practices in the consulting industry using its NelsonHall Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT), which is used to measure the top performers in a number of industry segments. Earlier this year, the firm used its NEAT metric to name TCS a market leader in the Digital Marketing Services segment as well.
Mike Smart, Senior IT Services Analyst at NelsonHall said, “TCS’ GDPR services are backed by its wave-based approach to remediation, targeting the highest-risk systems to improve client compliance. TCS’ knowledge of the regulation, of their clients’ current IT systems, and its toolkits allow it to put in place highly detailed remediation plans for GDPR compliance."
