ENSearch online for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and you will find plenty of posts explaining how it will impact your business, or tips on how to make your company GDPR ready. While the regulation will change how businesses should manage personal data, many businesses still fail to understand the benefits of GDPR. Read more to learn how will GDPR help improve how you handle data.
More efficient data processing
While initially GDPR will force organizations to invest resources into revising their business processes, in the long run it will be highly beneficial. GDPR compliant companies will have a better data structure, resulting in more productivity.
Companies will also have more accurate data to work with. Under the GDPR customers can access their personal data, inspect and validate the stored information. This will eventually lead to more accurate data about your customer base.
More security, more customer loyalty
Whether you are a freelancer, small or big company, being “cyber safe” maintains and improves loyalty among existing customers. Implementing security processes and explaining them to your customers, will make your company more trustworthy and transparent.
Collecting and organizing data in one centralized and secure location helps your business quickly access data in a secure environment. It is important to ensure that this location is backed up and hosted in a secure location.
Using a GDPR ready cloud solution or implementing two-factor authentication across the board, businesses are already taking steps in the right direction.
Ultimately better data handling processes, will represent a big benefit for your business. Just in the UK about 70% of large UK firms suffered cyber attacks. Data breaches can impact your company’s reputation and minimizing this risk will help you increase customer trust on your organization’s brand.
You should also include GDPR compliance in your marketing campaigns, as it will help boost your business’s reputation in the eyes of potential customers.
Better Data Security Globally
While GDPR focuses primarily on companies in the EU, it also takes into account the protection of personal data transferred to third-party organizations outside of the EU. These transfers can only happen when third-parties provide legal and contractual agreements to protect the rights of individuals.
EU based services will have an advantage as they do not have to deal with foreign security regulations. Namely services like Dropbox, Onedrive may take more time to be fully transparent about their data processes, as it is not clear where your data is hosted.
What are the consequences of not being GDPR compliant?
Not preparing for GDPR, can have severe consequences. Organizations who are not GDPR compliant can face a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of the company’s annual turnover from the previous year. To prevent any liabilities, make sure you review your data handling processes before the 25 May 2018.
Your company will also be more vulnerable to data theft and data loss. If your data is scattered all over, it will make your work more difficult, slowing down any data handling processes. Since you don’t have a centralized system, you will spend more time searching for data.
Storing data in different devices and locations can also present a huge risk if you don’t have a way to log all the activity. It’s important to keep your data organized, stored in secure location, and easily manageable by an administrator.
Sources: Techquarters, Electronics Weekly, Techquarters
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