Preview:
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organizations face astronomical fines for the most serious of infringements, such as failing to have consent to process customers’ data. GDPR Compliance solutions need to be put into place.
Organizations cannot afford to ignore the legislation as failure to comply could damage your business. A survey by YouGov found that if they were forced to pay the maximum fines:
- 71% of UK companies fear they would go out of business
- 21% would need to make headcount reductions.
However, the GDPR shouldn’t be about scaremongering; running a business is challenging enough without living in fear that you’re being watched every second with huge fines looming over your head. With the appropriate GDPR compliance strategy & solutions in place, you can use the GDPR to your advantage, demonstrating to your customers that you are trustworthy, responsible, and derive added value from the data you hold.
Manage your GDPR compliance effectively and you can:
- Build customer trust
- Improve your brand image and reputation
- Improve data governance
- Improve information security
- Improve competitive advantage
But the GDPR doesn’t apply to us
In the UK there appears to be a degree of naivety over the GDPR, with a third of businesses feeling the legislation will have no impact on them, and a fifth believing the rules don’t apply to them since they do not handle consumer data.
The GDPR is about more than consumer data. It relates to all information (e.g. employee data, payroll, and pension records), it applies to all types and sizes of organizations (e.g. sole traders, partnerships, PLCs). The bottom line is that no-one is exempt, and we all have a responsibility to achieve and maintain compliance.
GDPR for U.S. companies
For companies that are located in the U.S, it seems to be more of a case of confusion over whether the GDPR actually applies to them. According to the GDPR, the European Union (EU) doesn’t allow the transfer of its citizens data outside of the country unless the country is deemed to have adequate data privacy laws. In the U.S, only companies that have opted-in to the EU-US Privacy Shield are considered to have adequate data protection. Others require GDPR Compliance solutions.
