Once upon a time – that’s how all good fairy tales start don’t they? And if you’re a certain age, there will be a beautiful princess, a charming prince and a wicked crone!
Sadly fairy tales are frowned upon at the moment. To be honest, I still have my Ladybird favourites and I think there’s definitely a place for magic and escapism. But I’m getting side-tracked – this is a fairy tale about data protection.
Imagine me as the determined princess, galloping on her brave steed, carrying a shield emblazoned with the “Business Tamer”, on a mission to defeat the apathy around GDPR, to build a realm where data is protected and personal information is used wisely and securely.
Well the imagery may be a fantasy, but there are still a lot of fairy tales that persist about GDPR:
- GDPR no longer applies now that the UK has left the EU. The GDPR has been retained in UK law as the UK GDPR and there is also the Data Protection Act 2018. As a business owner, you need to comply with both the legislation and the regulations.
- We’ve been certified as GDPR compliant. There is no such thing as certification to be GDPR compliant. Making sure your business complies with the legislation is an ongoing effort.
- We have sophisticated cybersecurity in place. That’s great, but did you know that the leading cause of data breaches is by employees not understanding what they need to do with personal information?
- EU Representatives are a myth. If you’re actively offering your products to customers in the EU, you need to make sure you meet the new requirements.
- My business only has customer information in hard copy so GDPR doesn’t matter. The legislation applies to all personal information that can identify an individual.
- We won’t get fined by the Information Commissioner as our business is too small. The ICO can issue a fine of £4,350 if you’re not registered for data protection and you should be.
- We’ve appointed someone in our IT department as our Data Protection Officer. To comply with the law you need to make sure that your DPO is appropriately qualified, have the ability to work independently and have knowledge of data protection law and practices.
If you’re surprised by these seven fairy tales, then let me help you find your happy ending!
You can book a free 20-minute call to learn more about what the GDPR expects from you as a business owner. Just go to the book-a-call page, or email me at hello@businesstamer.co.uk