The landscape of privacy law is constantly changing, so it is common for firms to feel like they are behind the ball. Providentia enabled one client, a late-stage venture backed software-as-a-service company, to jumpstart their privacy efforts when it was needed the most.

Strategic advice

First, the client needed strategic advice in assessing privacy risk in day-to-day client activities. These included assessing privacy risk in the development of new product features and functionality, engaging in data sharing and partnerships, conducting marketing and sales activities, and handling the data of their employees. Providentia’s solution was to develop a flexible data privacy risk assessment template that could be used to impart plain-english privacy reasoning when engaging with business partners. In addition, Providentia was able to develop and streamline the client’s questionnaires that it used for diligence with key data sharing partners, and general vendors. This advice focused on compliance from a global perspective— including Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as myriad new U.S. state laws like the California Privacy Rights Act.

With Providentia’s advice and support over just three quarters, the client was able to cost effectively move from a reactive position with respect to privacy to one where they were in the driver’s seat.

Dedicated privacy firepower

Second, the client’s commercial team needed dedicated privacy firepower when negotiating privacy-related terms with customers. The European Commission had recently published its long-awaited update to the standard contractual clauses that are used to handle the transfer of personal data under GDPR, which resulted in an uptick in the negotiation of data processing agreements, or DPAs. These negotiations required redlines with clear and concise explanations of the client’s privacy practices, as well as live conversations to walk customers through more contentious privacy issues. Providentia’s counsel was able to quickly jump into these negotiations to help close deals more efficiently. This enhanced the capacity of the client’s commercial teams to move their deals along faster, and enabled them to meet the demands of their sales teams at the end of the quarter.

With Providentia’s advice and support over just three quarters, the client was able to cost effectively move from a reactive position with respect to privacy to one where they were in the driver’s seat.

“We enjoyed working with a data privacy attorney at Providentia immensely. He was able to get a firm understanding of our business quickly in order to provide practical privacy advice to key stakeholders. He also was fantastic at efficiently and effectively negotiating data privacy related agreements and helping the team with overall deal volume. We really enjoy working with their team.”

Andrew Epstein, General Counsel, DemandBase Inc.