GDPR and how GDPR impacts your business
Are you aware that GDPR impacts business? But how much and which business?
Organizations need to understand that the GDPR is not just a regulatory obligation but also a means of achieving alignment between business and technology.
European regulators notice that lack of proper regulation negatively affects the consumers.
This is the main reason for creating the General Data Protection Regulation.
Let’s find out about the General Data Protection Regulation and how it will affect the business.
What is the General Data Protection Regulation?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation.
This regulation has been applied in all local data protection legislation throughout the EU and EEA region.
But it does not restrict to the borders of the EU.
It will apply in all the organisations or companies that sell or store personal information about a European citizen, including those in other continents.
So, all those companies must comply with GDPR.
The GDPR means is that EU and EAA people now have greater control over their data and guarantees that their information is secure across Europe.
As per the GDPR directive, personal data is any information that is used for identifying a person directly or indirectly.
Thus it includes name, an email address, a photo, bank details, posts on social media, medical information and IP address of a person.
It is an 88-page law that contains 11 chapters and 99 articles.
The aim of these is to improve and unify data privacy practices concerning the data of EU residents.
The GDPR impacts on the company
In this data protection regulation, the task of complying with this regulation falls on companies and organisations.
In this data protection regulation, the task of complying with this regulation falls on companies and organisations.
First, see what comes under GDPR compliance.
It applies to every businesses and organisation in the EU, regardless of whether data protection takes place in the EU or not.
Even organisations that do not establish outside the EU will be subject to GDPR.
If your company provides goods or services to citizens in the EU, then it is subject to GDPR.
All organizations and companies working with personal data should appoint a data protection officer or data controller who is responsible for complying with GDPR.
Those companies and organisations that do not comply with GDPR have to pay penalty with the amount higher of the following:
- Up to 4% of annual global revenue
or - 2) 20 million Euros
GDPR is not just an IT issue. It has broad consequences for the whole organization for how firms conduct promotions and selling practices.
For your business to gather and retain personal information of customers one or more of the followings points are essential-
Consent
Consent means the free willingness of a person to do or not to do something. It is either express or implied.
Express means oral or written consent.
Implied means when one person expresses his consent through actions or signals.
Example nodding of the head on a question is implied consent.
If you have specific consent from a person, you can store their data for contacting them.
Contractual
When you have a contractual obligation against the person or organization, you can store and process their data.
Contractual obligations are the legal responsibilities of each party involved in a contractual agreement.
Legitimate interest
A legitimate interest is a legal standard.
The standard is used to determine whether a party has a specific interest in the legal issue which the court is hearing.
Unless fundamental rights override that interest, you can claim a legitimate interest as the reason you have processed somebody’s data.
Vitally relevant interests
If you have reason to believe that the data processing is of the person or company’s vital interest.
Public Interest
You can use the data for processing when it is of public interest.
Legal
You will be GDPR-compliant if you are legally obliged to process the data.
Once you declare which route your business is going down ( i.e. consent, contractual interest, legitimate interest, public interest, vital interest or legal) then you cannot change it.
So, be cautious while selecting it.
GDPR impacts on customer engagement
Under GDPR requirements, conditions for obtaining consents are difficult. It is because individuals have the right to withdraw consent at any time.
And for different activities, companies must obtain separate consents from individuals.
If you use the same consent for processing different activities, then it is considered invalid.
That means you need to be able to prove that the person agrees to any action. For example, to receive a newsletter.
It is not permissible to presume or add a disclaimer and providing an opt-out option is not enough.
GDPR impacts by changing a lot of things for companies, like the way of managing marketing activities.
That’s why companies have to review thoroughly business processes, applications and forms to see they are compliant with double opt-in rules.
Because in case individual object to receiving mail or other modes of communication, organisations can prove that consent is free.
Advantages-:
Importance of consent
The advantage of GDPR is that companies have to take consent of the consumer.
They cannot force consumers to push into clauses which they do not understand.
It does not matter whether the data processing is taking place within the European Union or not.
Companies have to take consent of consumers about the type of data they collect and use it for what purposes.
Hence, the General Data Protection Regulation protects data of every EU citizen.
Easily erase data
With the help of the General Data Protection Act, consumers can edit or delete their data as per their wish.
For example- once you provide the details of your medications you can change or delete it later.
This option is available for the first time in data protection law.
Customers as per their wish give instructions to change or delete their data and companies are legally bound to do so.
Conclusion
We can sum up that GDPR impacts by making data processing more transparent, secure and give power to consumers on maintaining the privacy of their data.
Every company have to comply it otherwise they have to face legal consequences.
The gains accrue primarily to customers and big business.
The small businesses are the ones that will bear the burden of this increased control.
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