Publications

Meet the people who make DPO Consulting

Publié le 14 March 2023
Jerome Filhol

Meet Jérôme FILHOL, General Manager of DPO Consulting Paris.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us why you joined DPO Consulting?

For more than 20 years, I have been able to evolve in business development and service offering management positions in the document services outsourcing and back-office management market. I have constantly evolved with the markets that were entrusted to me, guided by my thirst for meeting people and an eternal need for challenges and learning.

Having spent the last 8 years accompanying my clients in the dematerialization of their exchanges and the digitization of their management processes, I have been able to apprehend the prominent place taken by data within companies. I have made the following observation: in order to differentiate themselves on their markets and to perpetuate their competitive positions, companies must now set up DATA governance that combines security and ethics, in order to consider the valuation of this new heritage and to include it in their development strategy.

This identification of the need pushed me to join DPO Consulting, a leading and independent consulting firm that combines the expertise and know-how of its consultants in the protection of personal data with the development of powerful technical and software solutions focused on DATA and its good governance.

What is your vision of the maturity of companies on the topic of personal data protection?

The maturity of companies, depending on their size and the markets they address, varies greatly, but all (or almost all) are now aware of the need to comply with the regulations and that this subject does not only concern GAFA or the large banking and insurance groups, for example.

We also observe on a daily basis that despite the differences in maturity, all companies need continuous expertise and support, whether it is through one-off assistance in the context of a new project or a peak in workload for large accounts, or in more integrated interventions by outsourcing the DPO role, or even carrying out a complete and exhaustive audit of the existing situation with an analysis of the actions undertaken since GDPR came into force.

Awareness and consideration of the challenges of GDPR is therefore comprehensive and in a very interdependent ecosystem between partners, suppliers, employees and customers. I think that a virtuous circle is underway for the benefit of the protection of our personal data and the alignment of practices in this area.

How do you see the year 2022?

Based on the observation of this desirable evolution and this “infusion” of GDPR, 2022 will be for DPO Consulting a key year in the consolidation of its positions and the relevance of our positioning and our proven expertise. This key year will be driven by a growth that we expect to be in double digits.

As the number of startups has been very high for the last 2 years, especially in the Paris region, this objective for DPO Consulting Paris is based first of all on the implementation of an organization and tools that should allow us to meet the needs of agility and responsiveness of startups and ensure them a support in line with their “go to market” deadline.

Our activity will also be focused on VSBs/SMEs and mid-market companies with a real takeover of their compliance project, requiring us to intervene as a constructive and demanding partner with our principals and to position senior consultants.

Finally, 2022 will be a year rich in training and development of expertise for our employees, with a significant investment in the areas of data processing automation, whether in artificial intelligence or Big Data exploitation.

These are therefore great challenges, and a challenge that DPO Consulting Paris and the entire group will be delighted to take up in 2022 with the hope of being freed from health constraints to find our clients and create more links between our employees.