🔒 Ditch Spreadsheets for Privacy Compliance

New Year, New Tools—Make 2025 the year of efficiency.

As we wrap up another year, let’s talk about why spreadsheets don’t belong in your privacy program.

Back in 2022, when we launched a video promoting Privacy Tools, we used the phrase "Ditch the spreadsheets." It wasn’t just a catchy line—it’s a reality. Spreadsheets are great for learning and training what a ROPA is—but that’s it.

Here are some real-life scenarios we’ve encountered with clients:

• Abandoned Work:
  A consultancy-created spreadsheet sat untouched for 15 months, leaving the client with outdated data and wasted efforts.

• Lost Knowledge:
  A privacy team built a spreadsheet in 2021. Today, all those team members have left the company. The new hires didn’t even know it existed.

• Shortsighted Deliverables:
  Some consultancies define the final deliverable as simply “a DPIA.” That’s it. No maintenance, no follow-through.

• Messy Data:
  Instead of structured answers, clients enter chaos:
  Q: “Do you process sensitive data?”
  A: “Once upon a time, a prince needed to collect health data from Little Red Riding Hood in Shrek’s village…”

• Locked and Forgotten:
  Password-protected spreadsheets that can’t be exported, leaving the company dependent on whoever originally created them.

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Here’s to 2025:
Start the new year with tools that scale with your business, adapt to team changes, and deliver clarity—not chaos.

And you? What’s your plan for leaving spreadsheets behind in the new year? Let’s make it happen together!

Happy New Year! 🎉