Marketing departments of organisations throughout Ireland are undergoing a fundamental shift in the way they use and capture data as a result of changes to how businesses can use 3rd party cookies. However, a survey from Compliance Institute of 144 compliance professionals within Irish organisations throughout the country, has found that although the oncoming changes from Google around the use of 3rd party cookie data will have implications for almost 9 in 10 businesses, there’s a widespread lack of awareness, with 74% of respondents say there’s little to no awareness of the issue within their organisation.
The survey also looked at whether or not marketing and compliance teams were working together to prepare and develop new data collections strategies in advance of these changes – more than half said there was no coloration at all, while a further 14% say they would like to be working more closely with the marketing department.
Michael Kavanagh, CEO of Compliance Institute (formerly Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland (ACOI), said the results point to a communication issue within Irish organisations that requires attention.
“In 2023, Google Chrome will block third party cookies and ca. 65% of the market globally, it will force marketers to consider other options. However, these findings point towards a lack of awareness, a lack of preparation, and possibly a lack of collaboration. All of which are concerning from a compliance perspective.
What this tells us is that organisations need to look at the area of data from a more holistic viewpoint. This is not just the domain of the marketers within the business – anything that relates to the collection or capture of data contains a GDPR element, which of course, is led, in the main, by compliance professionals.
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Data Protection Commission (DPC) issued a guidance note titled “Cookies and other tracking technologies”, which outlined what the DPC considers best practice, and intended to ensure greater levels of adherence across Irish organisations. At the time, Irish organisations were required to review their cookie policies to ensure they met the standards as set by the EU. It was at that stage collaboration between marketing and compliance teams was necessary to ensure that the organisation had all its t’s crossed and I’s dotted.
We need the same type of collaboration now”.
The Compliance Institute survey asked:
How much awareness is there in your organisation around the forthcoming changes from Google, and are actions being taken as a result?
%
- A lot of awareness and we have made/ are making changes 8
- A lot of awareness but we have yet to make any changes 5
- A little awareness – some actions taken/ planned 13
- A little awareness – no actions taken/ planned 24
- No awareness that I know of 37
- It doesn’t apply to us 13
How closely are you working with your marketing department in the development of alternative data strategies to replace third party cookies?
%
- Very closely 18
- We are working with them a little 17
- Not at all 51
- We would like to be working more closely with the market department on this 14
Mr. Kavanagh concluded,
“It is evident from our survey that greater cross collaboration and communication is needed marketers need to do more to engage with their compliance colleagues and vice versa.”