Data Privacy Process Design for Global Financial Services

Client Overview 
A major global banking and financial services organization operates in sixty-five countries and territories. The company needed to comply with a patchwork of international data privacy regulations. Initial attempts at enforcing data privacy across production and non-production environments with a major consulting partner fell short, leaving critical privacy and compliance challenges unresolved. 

Challenge: Achieving Scalable Global Data Privacy and Masking 

• No unified global policy defined personally identifiable information, leading to confusion around privacy standards 

• Prior initiatives failed due to unenforceable or missing service level agreements 

• Data masking progress was stalled by lack of internal expertise and limited staffing 

• The existing control process lacked a way to verify if application teams had properly masked sensitive data 

• Tracking exceptions or managing approval for special cases was not possible under the old approach 

• As a result, the process could not scale to all application teams or meet enterprise compliance objectives 

Solution: End-to-End Data Privacy Process Design and Automation 

Axis Technology created and deployed an automated, scalable Data as a Service (DaaS) workflow that redefined sensitive data management in non-production environments: 

• Developed a clear company-wide policy for personally identifiable information and established standard operating procedures 

• Created a dedicated Data Privacy Services team to manage exception handling and provide direct support to application development groups 

• Segmented requests for sensitive data into distinct, easily managed types for business users and the internal privacy team 

• Rolled out a self-service portal powered by Atlassian Jira Service Desk to streamline tracking, approvals, and team feedback 

• Introduced strict service level agreements, with direct management and accountability by the new privacy services team 

• Published well-defined procedures for all operational steps, ensuring transparency and consistency across the enterprise 

Results: Measurable Improvement in Data Privacy Compliance and Efficiency 

• Tripled request handling from fifty-nine to one hundred thirty-eight in the first week alone 

• Reduced average SLA response time from six months to six weeks, dramatically increasing organizational agility 

• Delivered a clear, replicable process that empowered application teams to mask sensitive data consistently across all regions 

• Enabled real-time visibility into masking request progress through the new portal 

• Embedded data protection and privacy standards directly into the software development lifecycle while minimizing operational impact 

• Produced measurable reductions in risk, higher operational efficiency, and superior year-over-year throughput for global data privacy activities 

Summary 

Axis Technology’s data privacy process design enabled this global financial leader to achieve scalable compliance, rapid data masking, and efficient management of sensitive information. The new standard delivered measurable results in risk reduction, operational speed, and audit-ready privacy protocols for worldwide operations.