The GDPR accountability principle and the use of scenario workshops in the digital age

The apparent lack of preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in many organisations suggests a probable failure of governance. The questions that arise from this are: why is this the case?; and how to address the issue? The aim of this paper is to answer these questions by explaining the nature of the Digital Age and why this failure is likely to occur. Then based upon this understanding, to provide a well-established approach based upon scenario planning and workshops to enable demonstrable delivery of the GDPR’s Accountability Principle and the opportunity to embed data protection by design and by default into organisations.