DPO as-a-service, data protection experts

Get expert advice from our data protection experts.

What is the main task of a DPO? What does DPO mean? Who is the DPO in a company? Find out everything you need to know about the job and objectives of a DPO.

Every organization processes personal data and must therefore comply with the Federal Data Protection Act (DPA), or even other binding data protection regulations, such as the RGPD (EU General Data Protection Regulation).

The Data Protection Officer, also known as the DPO (Délégué à la protection des données), is the real conductor of data protection governance and will be responsible for organizing and ensuring your organization’s compliance with applicable regulations on personal data.

We carry out the tasks assigned to the DPO for your organization, and are officially appointed external data protection advisor to the supervisory authorities.

What is a Data Protection Officer (DPO)?

The DPO plays a crucial role in ensuring the company’s compliance with data protection laws and regulations, such as the FADP or the GDPR.

As a true data protection expert, they ensure the proper application of the rules relating to personal data protection, whether under the GDPR or the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP).

An independent expert serving compliance

The DPO has an important advisory role to ensure that companies’ practices in the processing of personal data comply with legal requirements.

The Data Protection Officer monitors the processing activities of collected data, conducts audits and impact assessments, and serves as a point of contact for supervisory authorities.

They may be internal to the company or external. An external DPO is not an employee of the company but a professional engaged to perform the DPO’s duties, thereby ensuring independence and providing a neutral, expert perspective.

A transversal and strategic role for the company

Within the company, the DPO oversees compliance, advises management, raises team awareness, and defines security measures adapted to identified risks. They supervise audits, privacy impact assessments, compliance documentation, and advise each manager on the necessary security measures. An external DPO consultant provides a neutral, independent, and expert vision in data protection, which is essential in the context of labor law and potential conflicts of interest.

In Switzerland, as in the European Union, the DPO function is regulated by law and stands as a guarantee of seriousness and trust for clients, partners, and authorities. The DPO thus acts as an essential point of reference in the field of personal data protection, ensuring compliance and security of processing within every organization.

Our DPO service helps establish a culture of compliance and security within organizations.

The advantages of using an outsourced DPO

Benefit from an external team immersed in your company to ensure independence, unlike an in-house person who is necessarily in a subordinate relationship with his or her hierarchy. It gives you a neutral, objective view of how sensitive data is managed within your company.

Have a dedicated point of contact for questions and projects involving the processing of personal data. An external DPO often brings expertise and experience that may be lacking in-house. He or she is generally up to date with the latest regulatory developments, as this is his or her core business, and can offer a useful outside perspective.

Tailor-made missions to save you time.

Our DPOs are recognized professionals with many years’ experience. They are familiar with best market practices thanks to their experience in managing several entities.

Unlike an in-house employee who will take on the role of DPO, the external specialist has the experience gained from working with several organizations of different natures and sizes. What’s more, outsourcing the DPO role avoids any conflict of interest, particularly in terms of hierarchy or accumulation of roles (speed of operations vs. security).

What are the duties of the DPO?

The DPO is a data protection facilitator and advisor. His or her main mission is to support organizations in their compliance with the DPA, and to help them maintain it over time through regular monitoring. He or she can take on a variety of data protection-related tasks, including:

Steer and manage the LPD and/or RGPD compliance project.
Monitor your organization’s compliance with data protection principles and obligations.
Train and raise awareness among the various departments of their data protection obligations.
Implement a Data Protection Charter.
Act as your organization’s DPA point of contact with the authorities.
Raise awareness of the DPA among all your staff.
Set up and maintain compliance documentation (registers, policies, procedures, etc.).
Provide advice on all aspects of data protection and the implementation of compliance and data security measures.
Maintain a legal watch on the protection of personal data, to inform companies of the potential impact of these developments on their organization.

“Every company should have a genuine data protection compliance and governance program to maintain compliance momentum over time. This will enable the company to set milestones to be reached over a set period of time, as part of a continuous improvement process. At sequal, we work hard on the foundations laid by ISO 27001 and its extension dedicated to personal data protection, ISO 27001, to provide our customers with this dynamic. We believe that these are excellent benchmarks and working tools for achieving sustainable compliance.”

Colin Chaleon, Data Protection Officer, sequal by Meanquest

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Read the full interview with Colin Chaleon!

Colin Chaleon is Data Protection Officer
at sequal by Meanquest

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A standardized offering to meet the needs of all types of organization

We offer a comprehensive range of services to meet the challenges of data protection

Initial
audit

Data protection and information security audit. We examine your practices and determine what actions you need to take to ensure that your personal data is processed in compliance with the DPA. This audit also enables us to identify your potential vulnerabilities.

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Compliance

We support you in your efforts to comply with the provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act. We can advise you on the measures to take and best practices.

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