Privacy Ref Academy

Privacy Foundations Simplified

I have been through a lot of privacy training,  as an instructor, a student, and a reviewer. More than any other type, I have reviewed computer-based training, the kind you may have to participate in once a year. This training is always in a strange middle ground of being too simplistic for your compliance professionals but too cryptic or esoteric for the rest of your organization. To that end Privacy Ref is introducing a solution to this conundrum: Privacy Ref Academy

There is only one way to approach this problem currently. We cannot simplify the training for non-compliance professional without losing some content the compliance team requires. If we were to do that, the resulting training would likely be too complex or cover material that is not relevant to the non-compliance participants. The choice is to instead provide clarification to students on concepts that are more universal, allowing them to work with their compliance staff for organization specific issues.

Privacy Ref’s new Academy courses are focused on providing information on core concepts, but doing so in live, instructor led trainings. Privacy Ref’s core strength has always been our industry experts, consultants that work within the industry and have experience with best practices. Our instructors provide the bridge to understanding the content for non-compliance staff. Having the ability to ask questions during a class makes all the difference in clearing up misunderstandings and building a stronger grasp of the information.

Other, computer-based, training falls short once someone has a question. While AI may one day be the answer to this question, right now training modules are nothing more and nothing less than video presentations that may not fully apply to your organization. You get what you get and if you have questions or need further explanation, then you are on your own finding those answers. Privacy Ref’s goal is to minimize this issue to the greatest degree possible.

I often speak of training in the lens of learning the rules for a game. “If you do not know the rules, you won’t engage, you won’t have fun” has almost been a catchphrase. That is where our training is meant to succeed. By making sure participants can engage with the content, understanding basic concepts, we set them up to further engage. Once they know what we mean by “personal information”, they are setup to succeed when digging into policy, regulations, or practices in their specific operational area often with your privacy  team.

If you have questions about Privacy Ref’s new training offerings, you can find them at https://privacyref.com/privacy-ref-academy/. We also have options for larger groups, including specific pricing or customization for your organization. Please let us know how we can help your organization facilitate privacy training and improve your programs.