Being a DPO / FOI Officer is a lonely business. You know what you’re doing, but you’re surrounded by colleagues and commentators who might give you doubts.

Would you like to be able to contact a trusted ally?

There’s a more obvious phrase involving phones and friends but a) the service I am about to offer is email-based and b) copyright.

I offer an advice service to DPOs and FOI officers. You sign up for a year and in that year, whenever you have an awkward question, you email it to me and I answer it. It’s very simple. I sign your NDA or I provide one (the former option is much more in your interests). You pay me and we’re in business. It’s usually £1000 + VAT but depending on how quick an answer you want and whether you want me to deal with more than one person, it might be more. Phone calls / meetings can happen sometimes; usually things get smoothed out once we’re up and running.

This is not DPO as a service and I usually provide it only to in-house DPOs. A DPOaaS asked me to do a similar arrangement last year where they’d ask me the questions but then feed the answers back to their clients in their name. They didn’t like the quote.

This benefits you because you have a guaranteed, objective second opinion even if it’s only the reassurance that someone experienced agrees with you. But I won’t lie, it also benefits me. I get random questions fired at me and it keeps me on my toes. And also, there’s the money.