Tag: Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI)

Payroll practitioners have access to vast amounts of personal, financial and health-related information of staff. The impact of European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Protection of Personal Information Bill falls on payroll in terms of action and accountability.

The collection and use of personal information in private estates and gated communities in South Africa is common. Visitors are often required to provide personal information to security companies like full names, contact number, vehicle registration and, with the development of technology, vehicle licence and ID or driving licence details are also required.

Whether the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act is law or not, data protection compliance has become good business practice, largely because of the reputational and financial risk. Recently, the Information Regulator approached South Africa’s President to issue a commencement date of 1 April 2020 for the remaining provisions of the POPI Act.

Renowned French philosopher, Paul Virilio once said; “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” How inevitable is this in technology today? Security professionals are having to work hard at putting in measures, best practices, mapping systems, lighthouses and beacons in order to reap the benefits of new innovations, all while managing potentially catastrophic risks.

Big data is seeing organisations becoming more mindful of aligning their data management practices with newer paradigms such as data lakes, elastic and cluster computing, and real-time data. As such, the cloud provides an environment capable of managing the volume and scale required to do so.

There are several factors today that can cause serious reputational damage to brands, these range from social media to fake news to cyberattacks. As such companies must have measures in place to minimise the possibility of reputational damage. Brand consistency, which is critical to establishing trust, can provide a layer of brand security for both organisations and their customers.

An avalanche of regulations governing wealth management means that wealth managers have had to adapt their business models to remain compliant. With all the new rules and regulations in place it is important to ask your financial advisor certain questions to ensure they are compliant. 

The world of business is changing quickly, and with trends like the gig economy, global employment and cross-border collaboration on the rise, you can imagine the scale of regulatory and legislative changes taking place. It should be obvious, then, how important having an agile, cloud-based payroll and HR management tool is.

The deadline for accountable institutions to meet the amendments of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, No. 38 of 2001, as amended by the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Act, Act 1 of 2017 (FICA) legislation, which was introduced to counteract money laundering and the financing of terrorism, is fast approaching on April 2, 2019.