Mimecast has come on board as a platinum sponsor, and Obsidian Systems in partnership with Chef, and SAP Concur as silver sponsors of ITWeb Governance, Risk & Compliance 2021, to be held on 11 February as a virtual event.

Lisa Lawlor, events director at ITWeb, says events such as this one help keep local decision-makers informed about developments in this sector, particularly in light of the POPIA deadline looming.

“In addition, the event will unpack how enterprises across the world are taking advantage of compliance initiatives to enable their businesses, and the steps they are taking to meet all the obligations in the Act.”

She says many top organisations are sponsoring and speaking at the event to give delegates an overview of what governance, risk and compliance solutions are available on the market, to help them plan their compliance strategies, and help them gain a better understanding of how to accelerate their journeys to meet the deadline.

According to Lawlor, this year’s event is themed: ‘POPIA: Strengthening your Enterprise Governance in the Data-Driven Digital Age’, and will also explore all the many avenues and channels that businesses can utilise in their pursuit to becoming fully compliant by the stipulated time.

“Our objective at the event is to clear the fog around what needs to happen to meet the requirements of POPIA on a practical level. The Act contains many provisions regarding notices when personal information is gathered, the ways in which this information can be obtained, as well as how direct marketing by means of electronic channels can happen. There is a lot for companies to absorb.”

Local businesses are not that different from their global counterparts, she says, and our organisations react to the same market pressures as companies around the world. “With regulations becoming increasingly stringent across the board, we also have to get a grasp of how we can successfully meet compliance deadlines.”

Events such as ITWeb Governance, Risk & Compliance aim to provide a platform for information sharing among peers, vendors and the industry at large. It is an excellent opportunity to get examples from businesses around what works, what doesn’t and what can be done to fix it, she says.

“For our sponsors, there is a great opportunity to make themselves, as businesses, more accessible to end-users. Any organisation’s success can be measured by the success of its customers, and they want to help clients in making their journey to compliance successful,” she ends.