Many aspects of how the GDPR legislation will be applied are still very unclear, particularly for SMEs. It’s a little clearer for the corporates.
The UK Information Commissioner will be periodically providing more guidance for SMEs. We're going to do the hard work for you: If this guidance is as long and involved as the legislation (we’ve read all 88 pages) it will not be quick or easy for you to understand what it means and what you actually have to do. Where issues are unclear we will be speaking with the Information Commissioner’s office to get more guidance.
However, it is very clear that GDPR is going to affect every single business in the UK. If you have any data on anyone - whether staff, customers or prospects - the way you store, use and share this information is going to change. Failure to comply can result in a fine of up to 4% of your turnover!
If you do any outbound marketing, you will have to change. Holding personal details on anybody for any purpose, whether B2C or B2B, without express (not implied) permission will be illegal. In other words, if they haven’t opted in, you cannot contact them. This applies to email, direct mail and telephone calls. Plus, when you do opt them in, you must be totally clear how and why you will be contacting them. This is going to affect how many UK businesses successfully generate sales, massively.
Unlike some previous legislation, where a few high-profile corporates were fined and publicly humiliated but little else changed, this looks like it is different. The Information Commissioner is currently recruiting hundreds of staff to help with enforcement.
In this section of our Support site you will get expert opinion on the legislation and how it is going to affect your business. Also, there will be guidance from experts on how to handle data securely and how to run highly affective sales generating marketing in the new GDPR era.
If you have any question please contact us directly.
Related
- What is GDPR?
- Don't get caught out by GDPR
- GDPR kills 3rd party data sources
- Use GDPR as an Opportunity, not a Threat
- Background to GDPR
- Key principles of GDPR
- The eight principles of data protection
- Isn't Postcode 'Personally Identifiable Information' (PII)?
This article is for information only and is not intended to be legal advice on this matter. If you have specific questions on how this may affect your organisation then you should consult a legal professional.