COMPLIANCE

Your organisation needs a Data Protection Officer. It doesn’t have to be a full time hire.

Every organisation operating under NDMO, PDPL, or UAE PDPA needs a designated data protection function, someone who owns data subject requests, breach response, and regulator liaison. DPO as a Service gives you that accountable role on a flexible basis, without adding permanent headcount before you’re ready for it.

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

Most data protection gaps

start the same way.

ACCOUNTABILITY GAP

No one is assigned

“The regulation requires a designated data protection contact, but nobody in the organisation actually holds that responsibility on paper or in practice.”

Q

TITLE WITHOUT AUTHORITY

DPO in name only

“Someone was handed the title as an add-on to their existing job, with no time, budget, or seniority to actually act on it.”

SCALE PROBLEM

Can’t justify a full-time hire

“We know we need the function, but a full-time senior compliance hire doesn’t make sense at our current size.”

WHAT WE DO

Data Protection leadership without the overhead.

DPO as a Service covers the full scope of the accountable data protection role, from day-to-day request handling to regulator-facing reporting, delivered by a team that operates as an extension of yours.

Data subject request handling

Receiving, verifying, and responding to access, correction, and erasure requests within the timelines PDPL and UAE PDPA require, so nothing slips past a statutory deadline.

Breach response and notification

Incident triage, regulator notification (NDMO, SDAIA, or the relevant UAE authority), and affected-party communication, run to a plan rather than improvised under pressure.

Regulatory liaison & reporting

We act as the single point of contact with NDMO, SDAIA, and other GCC data protection authorities, including audit and inspection support when it’s requested.

Ongoing compliance monitoring

Tracking regulatory change, maintaining records of processing activities, and running privacy impact assessments as new projects and systems come online.

WHY THIS APPROACH?

Three paths. One that actually works.

Full-time DPO hire
High risk & slow
4–9 months to hire and onboard
Risk concentrated in one person
Regulatory coverage entirely depends on the hire
High fixed salary + recruiting cost
Creates long-term dependency
Slow, expensive, and fragile
DPO as a Service
Recommended
Operational in 2–4 weeks
Embedded team, not a single point of failure
GCC Regulatory coverage built in from day one
Flexible retainer — no overhead
Designed for handover from the start
Fast, flexible, and exits cleanly
Ad-hoc legal / compliance advice
Reactive fix
Engaged when there’s a problem

No ongoing ownership after engagement

Advice only, no operational execution

Unpredictable cost, billed per matter

No continuity between engagements

Solves the fire, not the fire risk
HOW WE APPROACH IT

We start by listening. Then we get to work.

We start by understanding your specific situation, with our approach tailored to your use case.  

Diagnostic & scoping

We review your current data protection maturity, existing records of processing, prior incidents, and where regulatory exposure actually sits.

Official appointment

Formal designation as your data protection officer of record, including registration with the relevant regulator where that’s required.

Embedded operations

Ongoing handling of live data subject requests, breach readiness, and advisory support as new projects and vendors come online.

Transition planning

We design for handover from the start. By the end of the engagement your team has the capability and documentation to sustain the function.

CLIENT RESULTS

Our story in numbers

What working with HEMOdata actually delivers.

The organisations we work with are at different stages – some are starting from scratch, others are fixing what’s broken, others are scaling what’s working. These are some of their outcomes.

“HEMOdata have been instrumental in supporting our journey to define our data technology stack and strategy. We now have a lot more trust in our data, a well-structured tech stack used across business functions, and clear processes and procedures in place. HEMOdata have been a pivotal extension of our team.”

Bill Sharp
VP Technology — Intigral, KSA
90%
NDMO compliance achieved
Enterprise KSA client — from standing start to audit-ready framework in a single engagement
40+
GCC clients across UAE, KSA & Oman
7+
Years operating in the GCC market

IS THIS YOU?

Ready to start, but not sure where?

Most DPO as a Service engagements start with a 20-minute diagnostic call.  We listen to where your exposure actually sits, tell you honestly whether you need a full function or just a framework, and scope from there.

“We were told to appoint a DPO but don’t know where to start.”

This is the most common starting point. We handle the appointment, registration, and operational setup, so you’re not figuring out the regulatory mechanics alone.

“Someone internally has the title of DPO, but no bandwidth.”

We can sit alongside that person, taking on the operational load, request handling, monitoring, regulator liaison, while they keep the internal relationship.

“We want external accountability without losing control”

You stay informed and in the loop on every decision. We operate as your accountable function, not as a black box making calls without you.