Still hiding from GDPR?
If you had your head buried in the sand over GDPR, you would have been extremely confused when your inbox was suddenly inundated with reconsent emails, as companies leapt on the reconsent bandwagon, following a lack of information and confusion over the facts.
Inboxes were filling up daily with emails from businesses that you may have ordered one product from, several years ago and I’m going to guess that you didn’t painstakingly read the myriad updated privacy notices and policies sent out to us? Now, every time you visit a website, the frustrating cookie ‘pop up’ appears, asking you to accept. You wonder what you’re actually ‘accepting’ in the hope that the cookie is of the yummy, scrummy food kind (which, spoiler alert, it never is).
What’s happened since the deadline?
Over 2 months have passed since the dreaded 25th May GDPR deadline, but interestingly, an ITPRO report in July, suggests that ‘just 20% of UK companies are now compliant’. It also states that ‘while the majority of UK organisations expect to be fully compliant by the end of 2018, 25% anticipate not being compliant until 2019 or beyond’.
So, rest assured that if you’re not on top of GDPR, you’re not alone! But if you’re under the illusion that it doesn’t affect your business, you’re mistaken. There is no option when it comes to GDPR compliance and you can’t get away from the rules and regulations of the Data Protection Act 2018.
GDPR support is ongoing
Anecdotally, I am still receiving requests for GDPR support and have assisted clients with their GDPR audit. Although it is quite surprising how many business owners do not have data protection in place, it is understandable, considering the additional work this could mean for start-ups and small businesses. The purpose of this blog is for you to realise that if you haven’t ensured compliance yet, or need to make a start, it’s definitely not too late to begin the work and I’m available to help.
Following our initial conversations together we will undertake an audit of your data as it stands, we will look at the hardware, software and security in your business and look to locate where the data in your business resides. At the end of this process, you will not be fully GDPR compliant because there are further steps you will need to take to ensure that your policies and procedures are correct. I will be happy to refer you to someone who can support you further following our initial steps.
Companies still need to ensure they work hard to comply with GDPR and implement continued reviews in order to make the necessary changes. Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix, but rather an ongoing process. There are likely to be more and more test cases coming to the fore in the next few months, so let’s make sure we are prepared and aware of what we need to do on the path to compliance.
Ready to stop hiding and need some help with getting your business GDPR compliant? Call me on 079 5805 0856 for a non-obligatory chat.
#GDPR #stophiding #business #dataprotection
