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The Compliance Institute said the survey points to a possible lack of collaboration between compliance and marketing teams to prepare for Google’s plan to remove third-party cookies from Chrome.
Google’s plans to remove third-party cookies in its browser are expected to impact almost 90pc of Irish organisations – but most are not aware of the issue, according to a new survey.
The Compliance Institute, formerly known as the Association of Compliance Officers of Ireland, conducted a survey with 144 compliance professionals in Irish organisations regarding Google’s third-party cookie ban on Chrome.
Nearly 75pc of respondents said there is little to no awareness of the issue within their organisation, despite the high number who said that the changes will have an impact.
“These findings point towards a lack of awareness, a lack of preparation and possibly a lack of collaboration,” said Compliance Institute CEO Michael Kavanagh. “All of which are concerning from a compliance perspective.”
Google proposed a third-party cookie ban on Chrome that was intended to come into effect this year, but was pushed back to 2023 after a mixed response to its alternative proposals. The ban was seen a win for the privacy conscious but concerns were raised about how it would impact the ad industry.
The Compliance Institute said marketing departments will undergo a “fundamental shift” in the way they use and capture data as a result of the changes to how businesses can use cookies.
However, more than half of the compliance professionals surveyed said there was no work being done between marketing and compliance teams to develop alternative data strategies, while 14pc said they would like to be working more closely with the marketing department of their organisation.
Kavanagh said it was clear that “greater cross-collaboration and communication is needed” and that marketers and compliance workers need to do more to engage with each other.
Google’s plans for removing third-party cookies on its browser received a green light from the UK’s competition authority in February, as the watchdog accepted a revised commitment relating to the company’s Privacy Sandbox.
The Privacy Sandbox was made by Google to try balance the concerns of the ad industry. It’s an initiative to create technologies that both protect user privacy and give companies and developers tools for online advertising to replace third-party cookies.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority had been concerned that the proposals could undermine the ability of online publishers to generate revenue and would cause online advertising spending to become even more concentrated on Google. The watchdog said it would “keep a close eye on Google” as it develops its proposals.
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