The GDPR clock is ticking

Paul Hunt is a marketing consultant

I hope many of you have now heard of GDPR, that you know that it commences on 25th May 2018 and that it represents a massive change in the way businesses need to collect, process and secure personal data of the individuals they do business with.

I also hope that most of you have started to look at what the new regulation means for you and what steps you need to take to ensure compliance. Remember the potential implications are severe - a fine of up to 4% of annual turnover of the previous year for smaller firms.

However, lets not concentrate on the negatives and look at the upsides of this new regulatory regime:

• Individuals will need to have opted into receiving your marketing communications and so this means that they should be much more engaged with your brand/firm and what you offer
• By proving that you can handle your customer data sensitively and respect their privacy this may be a competitive advantage over your competitors who do not
• The importance of marketing in organisations will undoubtedly increase as the culture of privacy demanded will mean that marketing will have to become more integral in your overall business - honestly this is a good thing!

There are a lot of specialists who can help businesses get themselves ready for GDPR and it's wise to seek them out, plus there are hundreds of articles devoted to the subject. The simplest I've found breaks what to do know into some basic steps, which are:

• Do an information audit
• Raise awareness within your organisation
• Review your privacy policies and statements
• Assess your policies and procedures
• Get in touch with your technology providers
• Find out whether you need to appoint a data protection officer (DPO)
• Look out for updated guidance
• Be careful

Remember there's not much time to get yourselves ready, so if you haven't started yet, I hope this piece has helped you on your way.