Opinion
GDPR – what is it and should you care?
Posted: 05/04/2018
Author: Fishtank
Legislation and the influence on your marketing strategy
A new sheriff is coming to town and they mean business.
In less than 2 months, on 25th May 2018 a new EU regulation will come into force, replacing the 1995 EU data protection directive (Directive 95/46/EC). The new legislation, The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) aims to improve data protection for individuals within EU as well as administer the export of personal data outside the EU.
Why should I care?
The new legislation has a massive impact on how businesses communicate with their customers and followers, how they store their data, and how they track user engagement.
EU – aren’t we leaving anyway?
Brexit is no reason to be unprepared for GDPR. The regulation is expected to come into life way before leaving the union does, so marketers around Europe should definitely consider this legislation simply a new standard of work.
That’s a bit vague though…
Basically, before you contact someone – even their work email address – you need to get their permission.
From the perspective of marketing compliance, GDPR will affect any business that:
- Is in possession or processes identifiable person data
- Uses email, phone, SMS or mail to contact them
- Through employment of various tools (e.g. cookies, e-campaigns, landing pages, forms), tracks and monitors their engagement for the purpose of creating a personal profile of the individual
Penalties!
Anyone handling customer data should be concerned – if deemed to be in serious breach of the new rules, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) could penalise them with up to €20 million or 4% of the firm’s global revenue.
This isn’t all either. Under GDPR, should a data breach occur, all companies will have only 72 hours to notify the subject of breach or their organisation may get fined.
Not to mention the reputation damage.
Solution to your GDPR uncertainty…
For more information on how you can safeguard your business before GDPR legislation comes into life, view the 12 step guide prepared by the Information Commissioner Office.
If this feels like much, please don’t hesitate and reach out to us at Fishtank – we’ve got processes in place to quickly ensure your website and marketing communications are GDPR compliant before the big day arrives.
