The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Global Privacy Summit 2014 in Washington, D.C., was an amazing event for meeting and collaborating with high-ranking privacy officials from just about every industry and vertical market – from public sector to Fortune 100 companies. This very large and impressive gathering allowed privacy professionals to share their insights on the ever-changing challenges of today’s privacy and security issues facing their respective industries, while learning from other experts and peers in their own space.
AvePoint garnered a considerable spotlight with the announcement of our automated AvePoint Privacy Impact Assessment system (APIA), which is distributed exclusively by IAPP and available at no cost. From the announcement by IAPP CEO Trevor Hughes in his keynote address, to the several breakout sessions and in-booth demonstrations, our team was deluged with requests for more information from interested parties.
In this current age of everything being electronic and/or digital in nature, it really surprised me to learn just how many large organizations are still conducting Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) in an otherwise “Stone Age” fashion! Spreadsheets, email, hardcopies, Word documents, etc. Really? So it then was no surprise to be in the middle of the clamor for a system that will prove to revolutionize how organizations conduct this part of their business.
I like to describe APIA this way: It’s an automated project management system for conducting PIAs. Everything is self-contained in the system: It’s where people go to create, answer, and review questions. It’s where email notifications are configured for response and review workflows. It’s where reports are generated for all that need-to-know. It’s simple, yet powerful and elegant. To see for yourself, be sure to visit our website today.
I have been to my fair share of industry trade shows with companies announcing new products, but I have never been part of a release of something that was so needed, so intuitive and immediately understood, and so embraced by privacy officials everywhere. The response to APIA was truly overwhelming, and the superlatives used by those that saw the solution validated our efforts in grand fashion.
We are committed to the constant improvement and evolution of this product, driven in no small part by the community-driven aspect of the project. We’re looking forward to the feedback and suggestions we will be getting from those that adopt and use this as part of their business process, and are excited about the future it holds.
