Renaissance + Ketch: mission-driven privacy compliance to support business growth

Since 1986, the Renaissance mission has remained the same: To accelerate learning for all children and adults of all ability levels and ethnic and social backgrounds, worldwide.

Today, more than 50 percent of US schools rely on Renaissance solutions for data and insights to equitably move learning forward. As technology continues to change, and as teachers and students connect in new ways, our commitment to accelerating learning is unwavering—both inside and outside the classroom.

• ‍Over 2000 employees in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Australia
• More than 2.8  billion real-world data points help our data  experts to glean new insights, refine, and improve our assessment and  practice solutions ‍
• Numerous awards garnered in the education and technology industries

Challenge: finding a privacy solution for cookie complexity, business expansion, and brand experience

Renaissance exists to achieve one essential goal: To accelerate learning for all children and adults of all ability levels and ethnic and social backgrounds, worldwide. For the legal and compliance team, honoring the privacy rights of educators, students, customers, and website visitors is an essential part of delivering a quality, trustworthy experience.

Renaissance started their cookie journey with in-house resources. But as the data privacy landscape complexity increased, Renaissance knew it was time to seek external support. “It didn’t make sense to continue building cookie compliance mechanisms in-house,” said Stephanie Carver, Corporate Counsel and Data Protection Officer at Renaissance. “Renaissance has grown exponentially, and we quickly realized the need for a scalable privacy solution that could keep pace with business needs and regulatory requirements.” Top of mind for Stephanie included: ‍

• ‍Tackling cookie complexity: Understanding how cookies work in today’s digital environment is essential. For example,Renaissance was incredibly conscious of tailoring the Ketch solution to achieve requirements of opt-in jurisdictions, so that no cookie collection would occur before a user confirmed their preferences. Renaissance wanted expert guidance to help support their marketing team in serving a trusted experience to every web visitor. ‍
• Honoring privacy rights in business data systems: Collecting user consent signals is one thing, but honoring those signals across the business data ecosystem is quite another. Finding a software vendor that could help automate these flow downs was a top priority. ‍
• Jurisdiction-specific privacy experiences: Renaissance maintains a complex network of brands and websites across the globe, which map to several data privacy laws and regulations. Renaissance knew a“one-size-fits-all” cookie banner wouldn’t work, but instead needed a tailored privacy experience to serve the right notice to the right person, according to the user’s region.

Julie Libby, Privacy Manager at Renaissance, first met Ketch at the IAPP Privacy. Security. Risk. Conference in Austin, TX. She knew immediately Ketch could be a great fit. When Julie introduced Ketch to the broader Renaissance team, their marketing team was especially excited about the easy customization options afforded in the Ketch consent management product.

With business growth on the horizon, selecting the right privacy software was critical. The Renaissance team conducted an extensive, detailed review of several privacy vendors. Julie said, “We noticed many vendors lacking what we felt were basic requirements, like the ability to enforce consent signals and detailed jurisdictional settings. Ketch was a game-changer. The platform depth and versatility were not something we saw in other products.”

Solution: an educational, supportive approach to consent management deployment

Together, the Ketch and Renaissance teams dove into the consent management implementation. Renaissance appreciated the customized approach to building an implementation timeline. Renaissance maintains an incredibly complex network of websites across subsidiaries and countries, and crafting a strategic deployment plan was of utmost importance. Ketch set Renaissance up for success with:

• Weekly deployment checklists
• Hands-on, in-product guidance
• Real-time Slack support

Renaissance was especially happy with the guidance Ketch provided in deploying multiple website privacy experiences for cookie compliance. “Cookie compliance implementation is a lot more complex than many people think, and it’s not a simple ‘switch’ a privacy team can flip on. It’s truly a team sport,” said Stephanie. “From marketing stakeholders, to privacy lawyers, to engineering behind the scenes, Ketch cultivated a project management workflow and style that really empowered cross-team collaboration.”

Gradually, the teams collaborated to roll Ketch consent management out to various Renaissance brand websites. Renaissance leveraged the Ketch implementation as an opportunity to truly elevate their privacy posture as a business, thinking about opportunities to future-proof their environment at every step of the way. Ketch consent management enables a variety of customizable features, including:

• Customizable (no coding required!) policy templates for every major privacy law
• Jurisdiction-aware privacy notices, customized to the person’s region and privacy rights
• Flexible consent modal and banner options, with marketing and branding capabilities

As a whole, the high-touch customer support experience from Ketch was a huge contributor to Renaissance team satisfaction. “Despite being a fast-growing software provider, Ketch excels in customer support,” said Stephanie. “We feel seen, valued, and appreciated in a profound way.”

Result: Scalable consent management that supports business mission and growth

“Ketch has helped us grow interdepartmentally. We have stronger relationships with marketing and engineering stakeholders. I now receive messages from these departments asking for privacy input. Not only is it amazing to be included early on, it’s also such a win that we’ve cultivated a working knowledge across the business about cookies, consent, and privacy rights.”

Julie Libby, Privacy Manager, Renaissance

Today, Renaissance is set up for future business growth with a scalable consent management platform. Renaissance’s team continues to leverage all of the learnings and documentation developed in partnership with the Ketch team. Perhaps most importantly, the Ketch solution outsources cookie management, which allows Renaissance’s teams to focus on what they do best: designing products to accelerate student learning.  

“Working at Renaissance, I’m proud to be a part of such meaningful and mission-driven work to accelerate learning,” said Stephanie. “Protecting the privacy rights of those we serve is an honor, and partnering with Ketch has been an important part of advancing our privacy program at Renaissance.”