As one of the single biggest changes to regulation in some time, the EU-driven General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has helped to transform the world of data protection. As topics like data privacy and usage come to the fore, it’s important that businesses do all that they can to fully grasp what this means for them personally. GDPR, you see, is a comprehensive change to how businesses can use, manage and hold personal data.
For a business, it’s vital to know how this new kind of ruling is likely to impact upon you. In a short space of time, GDPR has quickly established itself as a key name within the world of business legislation, having come into effect on May 25th, 2018. This new form of regulation holds many changes including:
- How companies are able to collect data about their customers.
- How businesses can use the data that they collect about clients.
- Data transparency regulation, making it much easier for users to know what data is held.
- Changes to company requirements to inform users of any data losses and/or breaches.
Now, you might be wondering why this matters to you if you are outside of the EU. However, if you have any kind of dealing with EU citizens, then you will need to adhere to GDPR. Since most businesses will do business with at least one person from the EU, it’s going to be very hard to avoid taking part in GDPR changes.
It’s important that you understand the impact that GDPR can have on your business, too. It can seem quite a complex issue, even if the reality is a bit different. So, let’s take a look. What does the impact and implication of GDPR mean for your business? What do you need to do?
GDPR takes itself very seriously
First off, this isn’t some band aid legislation made up to appease a small number of people. In a rare move, this is a massive move for the people: it gives you the power back in how you use your data. However, with as many as 80% of small to medium sized enterprises not knowing what GDPR actually is, it’s important that you take action and learn about it now.
Large fines – anything from 4% of your annual turnover to €20m – are being offered to those who cannot comply with GDPR regulation when they should. However, please be aware that you will get a series of warnings before a fine comes through. You won’t just wake up to a massive nine figure fine without any kind of warning or request to make a change to suit the needs of the industry.
You will also need to take GDPR seriously as they do take it very seriously themselves, it is highly recommended that you read up on the facts, there are plenty of tools online such as the “55 things you should know about GDPR” infographic from casinopick. It’s not like some regulation where you could spend all of your time kicking it into the grass in the courts. This is going to be something which the government acts on as soon as they possibly can.
There is no reason why you need to fear GDPR, though: but you should absolutely take it seriously. It’s all about making your business more transparent and open in the eyes of those who use your business. That’s quite important, and will go some way to making sure you can make results a bit more visible to your customers. This will in turn give them more trust and belief that your business has their own success at heart.
Want to make sure your business is ready to handle GDPR, then? Let’s take a look at why it matters.
What does GDPR mean for me?
As part of the new GDPR regulations, the EU looks to recognize the following rights:
- The right to have a private life, a universal human right without any leeway.
- The right to have safe, secure and private data held with total control over it.
This is a universal human right – the EU does not recognize this as being just for those in their own jurisdiction. You might wonder how a European body can make such decisions for everyone else. It’s quite simple:
- Does your business operate within the European Union?
- Does your business use any data from EU citizens or businesses?
- Do you even do any business with businesses in which the above apply?
If so, you must adhere to GDPR rules. This means that the majority of the business world will fall into this category. You will need to be ready to meet GDPR rulings, as a failure to do so is only going to cause you a headache as time goes on.
Action was supposed to be taken by May 25th, 2018. If you have not made the right moves to get GDPR ready, then it might be a good idea to do something about that.
What should I do?
You should immediately look to bring in an expert in GDPR compliance. Companies are now set-up to do this, and many business and IT analysts are offering to help you get GDPR compliant. It would be foolish not to take them p on this offer: failing to get GDPR ready as soon as possible is a massive risk.
If you pick up GDPR compliance, you are much more likely to see the whole process straighten itself out quickly. All it takes is an analyst to take an in-house look at what your business produces at present, so that you can clearly evaluate all of this.
GDPR compliance is very important. Your business will have its own personal challenges and changes needed to make it work for them. However, with the help of an expert in getting you GDPR ready, this should not be the same problem that it feels like at the moment.
Keep that in mind: you might just be able to make the kind of progress that you need simply by looking into GDPR compliance as soon as you possibly can. It’s essential to your long-term progress as a business.
