What is data security and governance?
Data security protects data from unauthorised access — encryption, access controls, audit logging, threat detection. Data governance defines what's allowed: who can access which data, how it's classified, how long it's retained, how it's used for AI training. Together they're the operational guardrails that let your organisation move fast with data without violating customer trust or regulatory rules.
What does Decision Foundry's data security and governance service include?
Current-state governance assessment; data classification framework (PII, PHI, financial, public); access control model design (role-based, attribute-based, dynamic masking); lineage tracking and audit logging; consent management for marketing data; data residency and sovereignty handling; AI usage policies (what data can train which models); incident response runbooks; and compliance mapping for SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, and industry-specific frameworks.
How is this different from cybersecurity or IT compliance?
Cybersecurity protects systems from intrusion; data security protects the data itself once systems are inside. IT compliance is broader (controls across the whole IT estate). Data governance is specifically about the rules of engagement for data — who gets it, what they can do with it, and how that's enforced and audited. We work alongside (not replace) your CISO and compliance teams.
How long does a data security and governance engagement take, and what does it cost?
A focused governance framework setup (data classification + access model + audit logging on one platform) runs 8–12 weeks. A full enterprise rollout with multi-platform policy enforcement, AI usage rules, and compliance mapping runs 5–9 months. We can also run a focused readiness assessment (SOC 2, GDPR, AI Act prep) as a 4–6 week engagement. Discovery call + scope audit comes first.
We're regulated (HIPAA / GDPR / FINRA) — can your team handle that?
Yes. We're SOC 2 compliant and GDPR capable as an organisation, and we've delivered governance work in healthcare (HIPAA-adjacent patterns), financial services (FINRA, SOX), and pharma (GxP). We don't replace your compliance officer — we design the data infrastructure they need to enforce policy at scale, and we document everything for audit. The reverse pattern (great compliance team, weak data platform underneath) is exactly the gap we fill.
Why Decision Foundry for data security and governance?
Governance only works when it's designed into the platform, not bolted on. We're certified across Salesforce (SELECT Partner), Snowflake (Select Partner — strong governance primitives), Databricks (Premier Partner — Unity Catalog), and Data Cloud — meaning we can design governance policies that actually enforce. Since 2004 we've worked with enterprises where data governance is regulated, not optional.