The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the toughest privacy and security laws in the world today. Enacted by the European Union (EU), this data protection law applies to organizations that operate in the EU or collect and store data related to EU citizens. The GDPR is known to impose heavy penalties and fines for non-compliance, with some of them even running into tens of millions of euros.
GDPR is expansive and covers aspects like transparency in data collection and usage, data security, accountability and governance, and privacy. As you can see, GDPR aims to protect the personal data of its residents. Covering all these different aspects manually is impossible. Also, the possibility of hefty fines for non-compliance has led many organizations to select tools that ensure GDPR compliance.
Here is our list of the best GDPR Compliance Software and Tools:
- Protecht Group A risk management and analysis tool that helps you comply with GDPR, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. More importantly, it provides a snapshot of all data through reports and dashboards.
- Enzuzo A privacy compliance platform that integrates items required for GDPR compliance like consent forms and data subject requests. It also comes with an easy-to-use interface.
- Alyne from Mitratech An automated GRC platform for helping you comply with GDPR requirements. It identifies gaps and provides actionable insights to bridge them.
- SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) A simple GDPR compliance software that analyzes all the provisions of GDPR and maps them to your organization’s controls and processes.
- Vanta An advanced GDPR compliance solution that offers step-by-step guidance on how to become GDPR-compliant. It also comes with 77 controls and 22 built-in templates that can be customized to meet compliance.
- AuditBoard A centralized platform for creating and storing documents, assessments, and audit reports that can later be used as evidence for compliance.
- OneTrust A Euro Privacy technology partner that helps comply with GDPR’s requirements. It helps with the governance of your data landscape while ensuring GDPR compliance.
- Sprinto A user-friendly compliance solution that automates and streamlines GDPR audit and compliance processes.
- Enactia A GRC platform that addresses the operational challenges that come with GDPR compliance.
- PrivIQ A data privacy management platform that helps comply with GDPR and other standards.
Best GDPR Compliance Software and Tools
Our methodology focused on GDPR requirements and provisions and how a tool helps your organization meet these requirements.
Some key aspects of GDPR compliance that we considered are:
- Right to be forgotten: This is an important provision and also one of the hardest to implement. According to GDPR, every customer has the right to not only know where their data is stored and how it’s used, but they can also request you to delete their data from your servers.
- Website Consent Management: You must ask the explicit permission of customers before using cookies to track their behavior on your application or website. Moreover, you must keep a record of this consent.
- Details on Data Collection: Organizations must inform customers what data will be collected and how long they will be stored. Also, you must show legitimate reasons for collecting and using this data.
- Recordkeeping: At any time, you must show proof of where the data is stored and even present a copy of the requested data record.
- Data Breach: In case of a data breach, you must inform both the users and the related government authorities.
We looked at tools that enabled an organization to adhere to the above principles. Additionally, we considered aspects like costs, scalability, ease of use, and the tool’s capabilities to extend to other compliance standards.
We made this list based on the above factors, and now, let’s take a detailed look at how they help with GDPR compliance.
1. Protecht Group
Protecht Group is a risk management and analysis tool that makes your business safe and GDPR-compliant. It also provides comprehensive insights into how customer data is stored and used to protect your organization from lawsuits and fines due to non-compliance.
Source: Protecht
Let’s now look at the features that support GDPR compliance.
Comprehensive Control and Visibility
Protecht Group offers complete control and visibility into your regulatory obligations. It displays your current state and the existing gaps that could lead to potential non-compliance. With this tool, you can centrally manage all your obligations to create a single source of truth. It also dynamically links data across incidents, breaches, risks, and obligations to provide visibility into your data handling processes. You can even consolidate all compliance questions and attestations to identify gaps.
Informed Decision-Making
Enforcing relevant policies is the key to ensuring compliance, and Protecht Group provides the data you need for informed decision-making. It even filters and combines real-time data across different systems while providing the custom visualizations you need for a data-driven approach to making decisions.
Manage Change
One of the hardest aspects of compliance is to stay on top of regulatory changes and integrate them into your processes. Protecht Group eases this process. Specifically, it sends alerts about upcoming changes and translates the meaning of these changes into plain English for easy understanding.
Overall, Protecht Group reduces the time and money spent on complying with GDPR while ensuring that your activities meet its requirements.
Pros:
- Ideal for organizations of all sizes.
- Reduces the burden of compliance management.
- Identifies vulnerabilities in critical data handling processes.
- Excellent customer support.
Cons:
- No free trial or freemium versions.
- Expensive
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Protecht Group’s compliance management solution is comprehensive and at the same time, easy and efficient to implement. It brings together risk assessments, compliance incidents, vendor and IT risks, and other factors to provide a complete view of your regulatory environment. You can even configure its processes without any coding knowledge, create customizable forms for data collection, and automate notifications and alerts.
Due to such wide-ranging features and the in-depth visibility and control it offers into GDPR compliance, Protecht Group is our choice for the best GDPR compliance software.
2. Enzuzo
Enzuzo is another good choice for managing GDPR compliance. Its many automated workflows and options can scan and detect violations, so you can fix them right away. Moreover, it takes a plug-and-play approach, which means you can get up and running quickly.
Source: Enzuzo
Below are Enzuzo’s features for GDPR compliance.
Consent Management and Analytics
Getting consent to use cookies is a primary requirement of GDPR. Enzuzo automatically scans your websites to detect and categorize cookies. Also, you can uncover gaps in privacy policies, trackers, and cookie notices. Moreover, you can easily get consent from users and store them securely to prove compliance.
Data Deletion
Article 17 of GDPR is the Right to be Forgotten. Under this provision, users can request you to delete their data. With Enzuzo, you can create a form or page to request data deletion. Also, you can manage data requests in one place and complete them in the order received. Moreover, you can get comprehensive visibility into data deletion requests and the reasons for the same.
User-friendly Interfaces
Despite the complex offerings, the interface is simple and intuitive. The comprehensive dashboard provides all the required information in one place. Also, there are many training and documentation resources to help users understand data flow through your processes.
In all, Enzuzo is a low-code solution for implementing the key requirements of GDPR like implementing customizable cookies, managing data deletion requests, and more.
Pros:
- Easy to set up.
- Dynamically updates the Privacy Policy to meet GDPR requirements.
- Simplifies cookie consent management.
- Supports informed decision-making.
Cons:
- Expensive.
- Limited customization
3. Alyne from Mitratech
Alyne from Mitratech is an agile and automated GRC platform that continuously ensures GDPR compliance. It thoroughly assesses risks, identifies gaps, and accordingly presents actionable steps. Furthermore, it creates advanced reports for making informed decisions.
Source: Mitratech
Here’s a look at how Alyne helps organizations meet GDPR compliance.
Integrated Workflows
The integrated workflows quickly identify risks and gaps and quantify them using a simulation engine. Additionally, it interprets policies and internal documents to provide a 360-degree risk and compliance profile. These profiles are also evaluated against the changing provisions for real-time mapping and summarization.
Intuitive UI
Alyne’s UI is simple to use and intuitive to navigate. It requires no prior training or technical knowledge and at the same time, enhances collaboration among teams. It can even be customized by non-technical users to meet their specific needs.
Pre-built Templates
Alyne comes with more than 1,500 pre-built templates that can map the provisions and regulations of GDPR with your internal controls. You can simply take these templates and customize them for your organization. Its AI and ML engine also helps with the mapping and compliance processes.
In all, Alyne is a technologically advanced solution that helps your organization comply with GDPR.
Pros:
- Ready-to-use controls and templates.
- Useful as a validation tool for evidence.
- Helpful customer support.
- Supports multiple compliance standards.
Cons:
- Complex setup
- Only cloud-based deployment.
4. SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
SolarWinds ARM is a comprehensive and easy-to-use GDPR compliance tool that focuses on user access and account management. It even automates processes like user provisioning to demonstrate compliance with GDPR.
Source: SolarWinds
Below are the features that help with GDPR compliance.
Analyzes Access
One of the major non-compliance issues is unauthorized access to sensitive data. SolarWinds addresses this issue by identifying accounts that have incorrect configurations and those that have wider visibility than needed. Using this information, security officers can fix the configurations.
Automated Account Management
It’s hard to manage Active Directory (AD) accounts and ensure their compliance with GDPR. It requires regular monitoring and continuous provisioning and de-provisioning, which can be resource-intensive. SolarWinds ARM automates this process to provide safe account configurations that comply with GDPR.
Audits and Reports
With SolarWinds ARM, you can easily gather the required evidence to support compliance. Its on-demand reports capture user provisioning and access activities and map them against the established privacy and security guidelines of GDPR. These audits also reveal gaps that executives can bridge with the appropriate strategies.
Overall, ARM monitors AD and file server permissions to manage user access and prevent unauthorized users from accessing sensitive content.
Pros:
- Excellent reports.
- Templates for user creation.
- Documentation for changes.
- Seamless integration with AD.
Cons:
- Complex implementation.
- Limited alerting options.
5. Vanta
Vanta is a leading trust management platform that centralizes security for organizations and provides the required control and visibility to comply with GDPR. It even actively monitors the controls associated with the GDPR requirements and updates them as needed.
Source: Vanta
Below are the important Vanta capabilities that help with GDPR compliance.
Reduces Costs
Vanta reduces the time and costs associated with GDPR compliance. Since it guides you through the entire process and automates the evidence-collection process, the resources required to manually manage these processes are highly limited. It also reduces the need for hiring legal experts and consultants.
Rigorous Controls
Vanta continuously monitors your internal and external controls and reviews them against the changing GDPR guidelines. Such streamlined monitoring identifies gaps in GDPR and provides actionable insights to fix them.
Single Repository
As your business grows, keeping track of GDPR compliance across every process is challenging. To navigate through this aspect, Vanta creates a repository that acts as a single source of truth for all compliances. It has all the evidence, documentation, and controls you need, and can be used as evidence as well.
Overall, Vanta automates GDPR compliance and saves time and effort for you.
Pros:
- Seamless integration.
- Helpful templates.
- Easy policy creation and management.
- Straightforward onboarding.
Cons:
- Notifications can include contextual awareness.
- Learning curve.
6. AuditBoard
AuditBoard acts as a centralized platform and a framework for building a scalable and effective GDPR program. It combines risks, controls, frameworks, and policies to provide a comprehensive view of your compliance program. Such a centralized view makes it easy to identify issues and fix them right away.
Source: AuditBoard
Let’s look at the key features that ensure GDPR compliance.
Supports Coordination
Using AuditBoard you can implement surveys and audits within minutes. Its templates simplify communication and coordination across all team members as every authorized member can view the results. Document owners can also add supporting documents to this repository. It also maintains an audit trail in a centralized location.
Streamlines Evidence Gathering
With AuditBoard, you can use the same piece of evidence for multiple audits and assessments. It also proactively collects and schedules data for relevant stakeholders. It also easily exports evidence to external stakeholders when needed.
Manages Policies
Another unique aspect is that AuditBoard updates, communicates, and maintains key policies and procedures. It integrates with Microsoft Word to quickly create documents and map the GDPR with your organization’s controls.
In all, AuditBoard streamlines GDPR compliance while gathering the evidence and generating the reports needed to meet the GDPR provisions.
Pros:
- Easy to perform audit testing and document the results.
- Makes coordination easy.
- Easy policy management.
- Well-developed reports.
Cons:
- Customer support can be better.
- Limited integration.
7. OneTrust
OneTrust is a streamlined GDPR compliance platform that helps with the enforcement of GDPR-compliant policies and principles across your entire organization. It also helps implement proactive policies that meet the GDPR requirements.
Source: OneTrust
Here’s a look at the GDPR compliance features offered by OneTrust.
Automated Assessment
OneTrust offers Readiness Assessments and pre-defined DPIA questionnaires that can streamline privacy assessments and the gaps that can lead to non-compliance. You can even generate the necessary reports to provide visibility to the executives so they can make informed decisions.
Consent Management
Consent management is an important GDPR provision and OneTrust helps build and configure request intake forms that are GDPR-compliant. It also offers personalization and individual opt-in choices to provide complete control to users over their data collection and usage.
Data Mapping
OneTrust addresses the issue of global compliance with a scalable recordkeeping and reporting structure. Through this platform, you can easily discover assets and map them to GDPR to identify gaps.
Overall, OneTrust eases GDPR compliance by providing the necessary tools and support.
Pros:
- Visual representation of data flow within the organization.
- Comprehensive automation.
- Saves time and effort.
- Scans for breaches and gaps.
Cons:
- Limited database integration.
- Slow data discovery.
8. Sprinto
Sprinto is a user-friendly platform that automates many activities and processes required for GDPR compliance. It comes with many predefined workflows and templates to ease the compliance process. Using this tool, you can create appropriate policies, conduct regular audits, assess compliance levels, and even map controls with compliance requirements.
Source: Sprinto
Below are the key features that help with GDPR compliance.
Compliance Policy
The first step towards GDPR compliance is to create a comprehensive policy that will include all the requirements. Unfortunately, this is also the hardest part for organizations. To help you navigate this complexity, Sprinto offers many templates and built-in workflows. Moreover, you can leverage one of the Sprinto-vetted legal experts to create a comprehensive compliance policy.
Breach Reporting
Though no organization wants a data breach, you also need a mechanism for reporting if it happens. Sprinto’s incident management module keeps a detailed record of breaches and the remedial measures taken. It also logs data and simplifies the process of requesting them. It integrates with JIRA and other tools to streamline the reporting process.
Data Subject Access Request (DSAR)
Every individual has the right to decide who accesses their information, and a DSAR process ensures that an organization adheres to these choices made by individuals. Sprinto offers a DSAR playbook to monitor DSAR compliance. It is particularly well-suited for tech companies that have to meet stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Additionally, Sprinto also offers training modules to ensure that GDPR compliance happens across all levels within your organization.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- Comprehensive reporting.
- Well-built templates and workflows
- Dedicated customer support manager.
Cons:
- The web interface can be better.
- Limited documentation.
9. Enactia
Enactia is a Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platform that optimizes business operations while ensuring compliance with GDPR. It works well for organizations of all sizes, as it streamlines the processes associated with compliance.
Source: Enactia
Let’s look at Enactia’s key features for GDPR compliance.
Compliance Assessments
Enactia continuously monitors your company’s processes against GDPR compliance rules and alerts you if any deviations exist. Its many assessment templates help assess the operations of companies across different industries.
Record of Processing Activities (ROPA)
The ROPA module interacts with different systems within your organization to streamline user access to sensitive data. Moreover, there’s a record of every access and activity, making it easier to identify and plug deviations.
Data Requests
Providing users with access to their data is a critical part of GDPR compliance. Enactia simplifies this process with its centralized repository, which in turn, helps your team members to coordinate and handle a complex request.
Overall, Enactia is a streamlined platform for managing GDPR compliance.
Pros:
- All modules are interconnected to provide a holistic view.
- Offers many best practices for compliance.
- Supports collaboration.
- User-friendly.
Cons:
- Limited integration with third-party platforms.
- Customer support can be better.
10. PrivIQ
PrivIQ is a data privacy compliance management platform that identifies risks with real-time audits and maps them with compliance. It assesses the impact of these risks on your operations and compliance levels. It also works best for global companies that have to comply with multiple legislation.
Source: PrivIQ
Here’s a look at PrivIQ’s compliance features.
Enhances Collaboration
It’s not easy to maintain compliance across departments as it requires high levels of coordination and collaboration. It’s often done through traditional spreadsheets that can quickly get out of control. PrivIQ provides a streamlined way to manage compliance with its automated tools.
Consent Management
Getting the consent of users and storing this consent in a safe place are key aspects of GDPR compliance. PrivIQ eases this process by storing consent in a central repository that can be accessed by authorized users. This consent can also be used as evidence of compliance.
Well-aligned Policies
As organizations grow, the processes and policies also increase, and over time, there can be incomplete and even contradictory policies. PrivIQ audits existing policies and ensures they are well-aligned and in tune with GDPR requirements.
In all, PrivIQ is a comprehensive tool for maintaining GDPR compliance.
Thus, these are the ten best GDPR compliance tools as they come with excellent features to streamline compliance. Many platforms even scale well with your growing business.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, GDPR compliance tools are necessary to streamline your operations and enhance collaboration to be in tune with GDPR. The growing complexity of organizations makes it difficult to maintain compliance with manual processes, and this is where GDPR tools come in handy. In this article, we explored the ten best tools and we hope this information helps you to identify the best tool for your organization.