Organizations need to understand that the GDPR is not just a regulatory obligation, but also a means for achieving business and technology alignment. With data becoming the new fuel in today’s digital economy, companies need to consider a comprehensive approach while aligning their organization’s information and data management policies with regulatory frameworks.
GDPR won’t just affect companies based in the EU, despite the fact it concerns the data of EU citizens. Any business handling the data of EU citizens – whether customers, employees or other stakeholders – must comply, no matter where the business is located.
The GDPR comes with plenty of advantages for complying businesses:
- Improved consumer confidence
GDPR compliance will prove to customers that your organization is a good custodian of data. This new legislation mandates that each organization have a data protection officer (DPO), along with regular audits of data processing activities.
- Better data security
Cyber security breaches loom as a big threat to enterprises in the UK, with 68% of large firms in the UK having encountered a cyber-attack, according to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2017 Read More here With the scale and sophistication of these attacks growing each day, having a GDPR-compliant framework in place will extend your cyber security practices.
- Reduced maintenance costs
Complying with the GDPR can help your organisation cut costs by prompting you to retire any data inventory software and legacy applications that are no longer relevant to your business. By following the GDPR’s mandate to keep your data inventory up-to-date, you can significantly reduce the cost of storing data by consolidating information that is present in silos or stored in inconsistent formats.
- Better alignment with evolving technology
As an extension of GDPR compliance, your organisation will have to move towards improving its network, endpoint and application security. Migrating towards the latest technologies – virtualisation, cloud computing, – can serve two purposes:
- giving you a way to more effectively manage the growing demand for data
- allowing you to offer end users augmented products, services and processes.
- Greater decision-making
Under the GDPR, organisations can no longer make automated decisions based on an individual’s personal data. After all, automated decisions, such as determining whether or not to provide insurance or a loan to a customer, can be prone to error. The GDPR mandates the right to obtain human intervention, thereby decreasing room for arbitrary decisions.
Thanks to the GDPR, your organisation’s data will become more consolidated, ensuring that your data is easier to use, and you have a greater understanding of its underlying value. This insight will let your organisation learn more deeply about its customers and identify areas where customer needs are unmet. By using customer information effectively, your organisation will be able to make better decisions and consequently get a better return on its investments.
