The Consulting Problem Nobody Talks About
The DPDPA consulting market in India has divided into two camps, and both have a gap:
Consulting-Only Firms (KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, Netrika, Illume, SISA)
Excellent advisory. Strong governance frameworks. But they deliver documents, not technology. Your team is left to implement the recommendations — either by building in-house tools, buying separate software, or doing it manually. The consulting engagement ends; the compliance work begins.
Platform-Only Companies (OneTrust, Securiti, miniOrange, ComplyDP)
Good technology. Consent tools, DSR workflows, data discovery scanners. But they assume you already know what to implement, how to configure it, and what your specific obligations are. No gap assessment. No policy design. No regulatory interpretation. No ongoing advisory.
The reality: Most organisations need both. As industry analysis consistently shows — consultants help you design the compliance framework, software helps you run it every day. Paying for consulting that produces documents and then separately buying a platform that you must configure yourself is wasteful, slow, and creates gaps between what was recommended and what was implemented.
PrivacyOS eliminates that gap. One engagement. One partner. Consulting + platform + security services.
What PrivacyOS Consulting Covers
1Phase 1 — DPDPA Gap Assessment & Compliance Scoring
We evaluate your current state against every obligation in the DPDP Act 2023 and DPDP Rules 2025:
Are your privacy notices compliant? Is consent purpose-specific and withdrawable? Are records timestamped and version-controlled?
Do you have a functioning DSR intake mechanism? Can you locate an individual's data across all systems? Can you fulfil requests within 90 days?
Do you know what personal data you hold, where it lives, and how it flows? Are India-specific identifiers (Aadhaar, PAN) identified and classified?
Encryption, access controls, vulnerability management, incident response. Do your controls meet the "reasonable safeguards" standard of Section 8(4)?
Can you notify CERT-In within 6 hours and the Board within 72 hours? Do you have templates, escalation paths, and an evidence collection process?
Do you have DPAs with every Data Processor? Are sub-processors documented? Are vendor risk assessments conducted periodically?
If applicable, do you have age verification and verifiable parental consent workflows?
DPO appointment, DPIA process, employee training, compliance documentation
Each area receives a compliance score. The aggregate score shows where you stand today. The gap matrix shows exactly what needs to change, in what order, by when.
2Phase 2 — Compliance Roadmap & Architecture Design
Based on the gap assessment, we design your compliance architecture:
- Which PrivacyOS modules you need and in what deployment order
- How consent flows will work across your digital properties (web, app, email, in-store)
- How DSR requests will be routed, verified, and fulfilled
- How data discovery will integrate with your existing infrastructure
- How breach response will work operationally — who does what, when, and how
- How vendor risk assessment will integrate with your procurement process
- What policies and documentation are needed
- What training programmes are required for which teams
The roadmap is phased — critical controls first (consent, DSR, breach readiness), then comprehensive coverage (data discovery, DPIAs, vendor risk, dashboards).
3Phase 3 — Policy, Process & Documentation Framework
We draft every policy and process document your compliance programme needs:
DPDPA-compliant, plain language, covering all processing activities
Purpose definitions, notice templates, withdrawal procedures
Intake channels, verification procedures, response templates, escalation matrix
Retention periods per data category, deletion procedures, legal hold management
Detection, classification, escalation, notification, evidence collection, post-incident review
DPA requirements, assessment criteria, sub-processor approval process
Trigger criteria, assessment methodology, approval workflow
Role-specific dos and don'ts for developers, HR, marketing, support
Age verification, parental consent, tracking restrictions (if applicable)
Transfer mechanisms, documentation requirements, restriction monitoring
Every policy is operational — not a legal document that nobody reads. Each includes step-by-step procedures that your team can follow without legal interpretation.
4Phase 4 — Platform Implementation & Operationalisation
This is where consulting becomes operational. Every recommendation from Phase 1-3 is implemented through the PrivacyOS platform:
- Consent banners deployed on your digital properties with geo-aware rules and multilingual notices
- DSR portal configured on your domain with identity verification and SLA tracking
- Data discovery scans initiated across your infrastructure — databases, cloud storage, SaaS applications
- Privacy vault configured for PII tokenization (if applicable)
- Breach response workflows activated with dual-clock tracking and notification templates
- Vendor assessments initiated for all Data Processors with DPA tracking
- Compliance dashboards configured with your compliance score and gap indicators
- Team training delivered — role-specific programmes with assessments and certificates
By the end of Phase 4, you have a working compliance programme — not a plan to build one.
5Phase 5 — Compliance Audit & Certification Readiness
We conduct periodic compliance audits evaluating:
- Consent collection rates and notice version adoption
- DSR resolution rates and SLA compliance
- Data inventory completeness and accuracy
- Security control effectiveness
- Breach response preparedness (tabletop exercises)
- Vendor DPA coverage and assessment currency
- DPIA completion and mitigation tracking
- Training completion rates and assessment scores
For Significant Data Fiduciaries, we coordinate with independent external data auditors for the mandatory annual compliance review, prepare Board reporting documentation, and manage the submission of significant DPIA observations.
For organisations pursuing ISO 27001 or SOC 2, we align the DPDPA audit with security certification preparation — one audit cycle covering privacy and security.
6Phase 6 — Ongoing Advisory & Continuous Monitoring
Compliance is not a project with an end date. PrivacyOS provides ongoing support:
- Quarterly compliance reviews: Score trends, emerging gaps, programme health
- Regulatory monitoring: DPDP Rules amendments, Board circulars, enforcement actions, and their impact on your programme
- On-demand advisory: New product launches, market expansion, vendor changes, acquisition due diligence
- DPO-as-a-Service: Certified privacy professional acting as your ongoing Data Protection Officer
- Board and leadership briefings: Compliance posture updates for governance review
- Incident support: Advisory during data breaches, regulatory inquiries, and Board communications
Consulting + Platform — Why Both
Consultants help you design the compliance framework. Software helps you run it every day. By unifying expert advisory and operational tooling under one roof, PrivacyOS solves the fundamental disconnect between planning and execution.
PrivacyOS vs Consulting-Only vs Platform-Only
| Dimension / Feature | Consulting-Only | Platform-Only | PrivacyOS (Both) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deliverables | Delivers gap reports and policies | Delivers tools for consent, DSR, discovery | Delivers gap reports, policies, AND deployed tools |
| Implementation | Your team implements recommendations | Your team configures the platform | Our team implements and configures |
| Engagement lifecycle | Engagement ends after delivery | Support ends after setup | Ongoing advisory + continuous monitoring |
| Sustainability | Documents go stale within months | Platform needs expert guidance to configure correctly | Platform is configured by the experts who assessed your needs |
| Completeness | No technology to operationalise | No advisory to design the programme | Advisory designs, platform operationalises |
| Typical cost | Typical cost: ₹5-25 lakh (one-time) | Typical cost: $50K-200K/year (global) or ₹2-10 lakh/year (Indian) | Custom pricing covering both consulting + platform |
Specialised Advisory Services
Beyond the core compliance programme, PrivacyOS provides specialised advisory for complex situations:
Significant Data Fiduciary Readiness
Anticipate and prepare for SDF designation before the notification arrives. DPO appointment, annual DPIA cycle, independent audit coordination, and Board reporting.
Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance
DPDPA + GDPR + sector-specific regulations. For organisations processing data across India, EU, and other jurisdictions.
M&A Privacy Due Diligence
Evaluate target company's data protection posture during acquisition. Identify compliance liabilities, integration risks, and remediation requirements.
Sector-Specific Advisory
BFSI (RBI + DPDPA dual compliance), Healthcare (patient data + clinical research), EdTech (Section 9 children's data), Government (citizen data + transparency).
Privacy-by-Design Advisory
Integrate privacy requirements into new product architecture, feature design, and vendor selection before launch — not after.
Board & Investor Briefings
Tailored presentations for board governance reviews, investor due diligence, and enterprise client trust assessments.
Who Our Consulting Serves
Organisations starting from scratch
You have no compliance programme, no privacy expertise in-house, and the May 2027 deadline is closing. We build everything from the ground up — assessment through deployment.
Organisations with partial compliance
You have some controls in place (maybe a cookie banner, maybe a basic privacy policy) but know there are gaps. We assess, identify what is missing, and fill the gaps with platform modules.
Organisations preparing for SDF designation
You anticipate Significant Data Fiduciary status and need to prepare DPO, DPIA, audit, and Board reporting infrastructure before the notification.
Organisations seeking certification
You want ISO 27001, ISO 27701, or SOC 2 alongside DPDPA compliance. We design an integrated programme covering privacy and security in one engagement.
Organisations facing regulatory scrutiny
You have received a Board inquiry, a customer complaint, or a breach incident and need immediate advisory and remediation support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with a Free Gap Assessment
You do not need to commit to a full engagement to understand where you stand. Our free DPDPA gap assessment reviews your current data processing activities, identifies compliance gaps, and provides a scored report with a prioritised roadmap — no commitment required.
From there, you decide: implement independently using the report, or let PrivacyOS handle everything — consulting, platform deployment, training, and ongoing advisory — as a single engagement.