Infor announced that it received Privacy Shield certification for its software. It submitted its certification prior to the 30th September deadline. This means all of its existing contracts and subcontracts were automatically brought into compliance under the Privacy shield framework.
Pam Murphy, chief operating officer of Infor commented: “The ability to quickly and securely move data across borders is critical for Infor to enable our customers to reap the dramatic benefits of our investments in cloud computing and data analytics. Through Privacy Shield, we are able to provide those benefits while ensuring compliance with Europe’s stringent regulations on the handling of personal data.”
Did Infor just self-certify?
For software vendors looking to operate across the international borders between the EU and US, this certification is important to obtain. Companies such as Workday announced their certification back in September while Ultimate did so last week. In Comparison to the Ultimate statement, it appears that Infor merely self-certified rather than using one of the certification agencies, to get an independent and ongoing confirmation of compliance.
Infor may well be going through the confirmation process separately. It would take significantly longer for Infor than Workday or Ultimate to complete just because of the number of applications they develop.
Conclusion
Certification under Privacy Shield is important. For companies that operate in the EU it could become a differentiator. Now that Infor achieved certification, it will not hinder their sales operation. For smaller companies looking to expand beyond the US, it is another hurdle for doing business in the EU. It will be interesting how many companies do not obtain the certification. How many of those will still seek to do business in the EU. Expect more announcements in the coming weeks, as companies wake up to the new legislation. The cost of self-certification is minimal though, so there should be little reason why companies do not self-certify.
