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Data Mapping: Avoid the Spreadsheet Trap!
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Your website visitors come from all over the world—how can you ensure you’re collecting consent in a way that complies with their local regulations?
Osano’s global team of privacy experts keep up with the changing data privacy landscape, so you don’t have to. Osano Cookie Consent gives you access to their expertise in a simple, easy-to-use software solution.
A consent management platform (CMP) is a tool that helps companies legally document and manage the user’s consent choices regarding personal data processing.
CMPs provide users with a clear explanation of how their data will be used and why. And they give them the option to revoke consent when they want to.
Is somebody visiting your website from California and opting out of data trackers via a universal opt-out preference signal? Are other visitors coming from France and want to opt out of just marketing cookies?
Osano Cookie Consent can be your single solution to managing consent no matter where your website visitors come from, what language they speak, or what technologies they use to indicate consent.
In 50+ countries and 42+ languages.
From both banners and authorized third parties.
Get Osano Cookie Consent up and running on your website in three easy steps:
Osano acts as a gatekeeper, blocking cookies and scripts on the client side. No need to manually tinker with your website’s tag manager.
"The Osano team is very knowledgeable, helpful, and accessible. I know I can expect a thoughtful and prompt response to all my questions. The platform is intuitive, easy to implement, and enables us to holistically monitor privacy compliance. We really could not be happier."
Ivanna C
G2 Reviewer
"Osano helped us get into cookie compliance in a customer-friendly and consistent manner. Looking forward to spending less time worrying about keeping up with legal changes with Osano looking out for the many coming changes in data compliance."
Aaron L
G2 Reviewer
"Osano is simplifying our international expansion and giving our exec team peace of mind with privacy compliance. It also has allowed us to conserve developer resources with its "one line JS" model."
Ryan W
CEO, G2 Review
"The platform is highly intuitive, and the team has extensive legal knowledge of privacy regulations. Everything in the platform is set up for easy completion; you hardly need to contact the team for questions."
Lilla M
Digital Marketing Manager, G2 Reviewer
"We like that [Osano] is an all-in-one solution and that it automatically searches our site to keep us compliant."
Glen B
Director of Compliance and Commissions, G2 Review
"It is hard to keep track of third-party cookies in an enterprise where several departments can add cookies. Osano helps take that back under control."
Martin V
Information Security Officer and Software Quality Manager, G2 Review
Discover actionable tips straight from our team of legal and privacy experts through our blogs, webinars, eBooks, guides, and more.
Download our checklist to learn what your first steps should be, regardless of which law applies to your organization.
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Read NowGet Started with Osano CMP
Book a DemoConsent management is not a new concept. But it has seen an incredible rise in the past few years. It began gaining popularity with the EU ePrivacy Directive and when the European Union passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016. Soon after that, privacy laws began to pass in countries all over the world from China to Brazil with new laws coming into effect at a quickening pace. The need for a consent management platform soon became clear.
In short, no matter which regulation you need to comply with, you have to know which users consented to which type of data processing. And you need to have good evidence of it. You also need an easy way to process all this, not just for you, but for your users as well.
So what is a consent management platform? Why should you use one? This article will tell you all this and more.
A consent management platform (CMP) is a tool that helps companies legally document and manage the user’s consent choices regarding personal data processing.
Have you ever entered a site and gotten a pop-up telling you it needs your permission to use cookies and maybe process some of your data? That pop-up is part of a consent management platform.
CMPs provide users with a clear explanation of how their data will be used and why. And they give them the option to revoke consent when they want to.
What is Cookie Consent? Download our FAQ guide to begin your road to compliance.
ePrivacy and the GDPR were the first regulations to emphasize the importance of consent. Failure to comply can result in huge fines. That’s a situation no business wants to find itself in.
For instance, the GPDR fines can go up to $20 million or 4% of the annual turnover, whichever one is higher.
A consent management platform doesn’t mean you’ll be compliant with all the provisions in a data protection regulation. But it will bring you one step closer.
Avoiding fines isn’t the only reason a business needs a CMP. Nowadays, consumers want transparency.
Most people understand some of their personal data will be processed as they browse the internet. But they want to know which one and why. And the best way to offer them that information is through a CMP.
Plus, transparency is a requirement of some privacy laws, like the GDPR, so you’ll be one step closer to compliance.
New privacy laws don’t just require asking for consent. You must also give them the option to withdraw their consent when they want. Certain exceptions exist, depending on the business, but we’ll look at a general case for now.
Unless you can associate the user’s identity with their options for consent, allowing them to change their decision becomes impossible. You’ll end up with consent from the same user scattered around different systems and silos.
A good CMP allows knowing exactly what each user chose. And it will allow them to change their choice.
Choosing a consent management platform may seem like a daunting task. What should a business look at? There are a few key features you want to look for in any CMP.
Laws can change very quickly. And they can be interpreted differently in different countries.
Let’s look at a simple example. The GDPR has a broad definition of personal data. So broad, in fact, that different countries have had different interpretations. Since the GDPR was enforced, there have also been different interpretations of what opt-in consent looks like. For example, in France, at first, scrolling through a page was interpreted as consent. But that has changed now.
Unless you have a large, global team of privacy professionals, keeping up with all these changes is nearly impossible. Let’s face it, very few companies can afford that. But there’s an alternative: letting your CMP do all the work for you.
Not all consent management platforms can do this. A good CMP will be continually updated to match all the new provisions, laws, changes, and interpretations worldwide.
Privacy regulations like the GDPR require companies to gather consent in an honest manner. This can be done through banners or pop-ups. The means aren’t as important as the result. Users need to give their specific and informed consent.
In many jurisdictions, you also need to have proof of consent.
That’s why you need a CMP that correctly archives consent. The possibility to connect a user to their option will also allow them to retract their consent, a requirement in several laws, including the GDPR.
In some instances, tags and/or cookies are loaded regardless of whether a user has given their consent. This can be considered a violation of some privacy laws.
The correct way would be to disable tags and unnecessary cookies until a user gives their consent. No consent? No tags and no unnecessary cookies.
When choosing your consent management platform, look out for this aspect. Unfortunately, not all CMPs take this into consideration.
Speaking of web tags, many CMPs will require you to manually catalog them. You either add each new tag to your inventory immediately, or you conduct regular website audits.
But there are easier ways to do this and a good CMP can help by automatically scanning your website and telling you which tags you have on your site. It can also auto-categorize them based on the user’s input.
Because most consent management pop-ups you see are on websites and refer to cookies, you may be inclined to think that’s where it all stops. You’d be wrong. Consent management extends across different platforms, including mobile apps.
If you process data through various mediums, make sure your CMP works on all of them.
Consent management is crucial for regulatory compliance. You need to make it easy for your users to opt-in, opt-out, or retract consent. And you need to keep logs of their decisions. A consent management platform solves many of these problems.
It can offer a quick and customizable way of asking and archiving consent. It will help you avoid risks and fines. In short, a good consent management platform will give you and your customers peace of mind.
Osano’s CMP will do all that and more. Supported in 40+ languages, Osano’s CMP will help you get one step closer to regulatory compliance, without wasting time and valuable resources.
With Osano, building, managing, and scaling your privacy program becomes simple. Schedule a demo or try a free 30-day trial today.