KSA PDPL: 5 Tips to Manage Your Compliance Costs
Written by Varun Arora, KSA Country Manager & VP of Partnerships at Pyxos
As PDPL compliance becomes a business imperative for companies and establishments in the Kingdom, one of the top concerns I hear from business leaders is about cost. And, behind their concern about cost are questions about:
When and how much should I invest in PDPL compliance?
How exactly is enterprise value created from my investment in PDPL compliance?
What are the best practices?
To help answer these questions, I’ve gathered three experts in the field of KSA PDPL compliance, who bring years of compliance implementations across the globe to the challenges Saudi companies are now facing—Laura Palmariello and Bilal Ghafoor, both Directors at GCC Data Protection, and Anurag Sushant, CEO & Head of Privacy at Zedroit Global—to share five cost saving tips designed to help leaders invest wisely in PDPL compliance without increasing risk or compromising on quality.
1. Act Now, Not Later
Some companies are adopting a wait-and-see approach, planning to address PDPL compliance only when enforcement begins in earnest. This is a costly strategic error.
When enforcement begins or when clients start demanding proof of compliance, companies will scramble to become compliant quickly. This rush will drive up consultancy costs considerably as demand outstrips the limited supply of qualified privacy experts.
Rushed implementation also increases the likelihood of mistakes, which could result in hefty fines and reputational damage. As experience with GDPR shows, a single DSAR request could cost unprepared companies as much as $1,400 (according to Gartner)—appropriate DSAR management software could take this down to the low single digits.
Bilal Ghafoor, an expert in the field of data protection and data privacy advises:
"Don't wait until SDAIA starts taking [enforcement] action. Don't wait until something goes wrong. Don't wait until a big client comes to you and offers you a huge contract but requires compliance as a condition."
By acting now, you give your team greater control over the process—making it easier to build a strong, cost-effective foundation for compliance before timelines accelerate and external pressure increases.
2. Build a Privacy-Engaged Culture, Not Just Policies
One often overlooked aspect of PDPL compliance that significantly impacts costs is organizational culture. Investing in training and automation without addressing the underlying culture is a common—and costly—mistake.
As Bilal Ghafoor explains:
"What drives up costs is you spend a ton of money delivering training, you get your automation in, you brand everything, you sort everything out, and about two months later, everyone's completely forgotten about it."
These upfront investments—though well-intentioned—often fall short because they focus on check-the-box activities instead of building everyday habits and awareness in every department, like asking for opt-in consent or flagging data handling issues before they escalate.
That’s why creating a privacy-engaged culture is critical: it ensures your investment doesn’t just pass the first audit—it becomes part of how your team thinks, works, and makes decisions.
One practical way to build this is the "privacy champion" model, suggested by Senior PDPL Expert Anurag Sushant:
"Designate somebody who's responsible enough to take care of these things; call them privacy champions and ensure each department that touches personal data has a privacy champion. So there are going to be 10 privacy champions acting as the hand of the DPO."
This model distributes responsibility and embeds advocates for privacy throughout the company or establishment—making compliance a daily habit, not a yearly checklist.
To make the idea of a “privacy-engaged culture” more concrete, consider how customer service has evolved over the last 30 years. It used to be a single department. Today, at leading global brands, it’s a company-wide mindset—so much so that it’s often called customer success. The shift reflects a deeper understanding: when customers succeed, the business thrives.
That evolution didn’t happen overnight. Companies realized that delivering a great experience couldn’t be confined to one team. It required involvement from product, marketing, operations—everyone. The same is true for privacy: real impact happens when awareness and accountability are embedded across the entire company.
3. Balance Manual Processes and Automation
When implementing PDPL, you'll need to make decisions about which processes to automate and which to handle manually. This balance is crucial for cost management.
For smaller companies and establishments with limited data processing activities, manual processes might be sufficient initially. However, as Laura Palmariello, Director at GCC Data Protection, explains:
"Having a system in place to implement these things for you means your staff can focus on the things that they were hired to do."
Anurag Sushant adds:
"Manual effort is going to be more [expensive] in the long run because you will not be able to control everything manually, effectively."
Consider your company’s size, complexity, and data processing activities when deciding where to invest in automation. Key areas that benefit from automation include data subject access requests, data protection impact assessments, consent management, and maintaining your record of processing activities (RoPA).
Remember that automation requires upfront investment but can significantly reduce long-term costs and compliance risks.
4. Bring in the Right Expertise from the Start
Having been at this since SDAIA enacted the PDPL Law in September 2024, the most expensive mistake I see companies make is attempting to handle PDPL implementation with inadequately prepared internal resources. As Laura Palmariello, Director at GCC Data Protection, notes:
"It would take a year before you can have a staff member that didn't know anything about PDPL to start being confident in implementing it—six months to train properly in the PDPL and another six months to learn how it applies in your organisation."
Attempting to save money by sending an employee to a short training course and then expecting them to implement PDPL compliance is like expecting someone to perform surgery after reading a medical textbook: the consequences can be severe and costly.
A more cost-effective approach is to bring in experienced consultants who can implement the framework while simultaneously training your internal team. This creates a valuable knowledge transfer that builds internal capabilities for the long term.
However, be wary of consultants who simply provide templates rather than developing tailored policies for your specific organisational needs. As Senior PDPL Expert Anurag Sushant warns:
"The biggest misconception that makes organisations fail on compliance is that templates can work—they can’t, they don’t."
Templates may seem like a quick, inexpensive fix, but they rarely address your organisation's unique data handling practices and can leave significant compliance gaps.
5. Prepare Your Internal Team for Ongoing Compliance
One of the most significant long-term costs of PDPL compliance comes from ongoing management. Relying on external consultants for continuous compliance oversight can quickly drain your budget.
As Bilal Ghafoor emphasizes:
"Consultants are expensive; this whole cycle of ‘we've had a crisis, we need consultants, then we have another crisis, we need consultants’ is really, really expensive."
The most cost-effective approach is to use consultants strategically—to set up your initial compliance framework and simultaneously train your internal team, while equipping them with the technology they need to effectively manage the ongoing compliance without being overwhelmed.
This approach not only reduces long-term costs but also builds valuable institutional knowledge that remains within your company or establishment, regardless of consultant relationships.
Conclusion: Invest Wisely Now to Save in the Long Run
PDPL compliance is not a one-time project but a way of doing business that requires thoughtful investment. By acting early; building a privacy culture; balancing automation with manual processes; and bringing in the right expertise, you can manage costs effectively without compromising on compliance.
As Anurag Sushant describes it:
"Privacy as a domain is a beautiful intersection of tech, law, and management."
Approaching it with this holistic perspective will ensure that your investment in PDPL compliance delivers long-term value for your company.
The time to become PDPL compliant is now—before the rush of official enforcement letters hit and while you still have the luxury of implementing it thoughtfully rather than reactively. Your future self will thank you for the foresight.
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Connect Further
Curious where your PDPL approach stands? Book a time with Varun Arora for a free, no-pressure conversation about your compliance roadmap. His calendar is here.
