Whether you are new to business or merely work within a business-to-customer (B2C) business, you’ll no doubt have heard GDPR mentioned. It’s not a medical condition: it’s the General Data Protection Regulation, and is a European Union (EU) development. If you think that the fact it is for the EU means you don’t need to worry about it outside of the EU28, think again.

If your company deals with even a single EU customer or business, then you MUST adhere to GDPR rules, or you must cut ties with EU nations.

With that in mind, then, you might think this all sounds pretty scary. When you see people talking about GDPR fines as high as €20m, too, it’s easy to get worried. GDPR, though, is inherently a good thing – and whether you are customer or business owner, it matters to you.

What is GDPR for, exactly?

It’s set-up that will be used to help minimize poor data protection regulations. After all the spates of big companies being caught out with negligent or downright illicit use of data, it’s easy to see why so many people have such concerns. GDPR looks to put the power back in the hands of the customer. With GDPR, the flagship changes include:

• Major changes to how data is kept and how personal data is collected, stored and used.
• Massive adjustments to how much say users have in how their data is utilized.
• Incredible legal penalties on companies who fail to comply with GDPR rulings.
• Data regulation changes in terms of what companies can ask for in exchange for access.

These changes came into play on May 25^th, 2018, so if you have not yet taken action it’s time that you did.

Like any big regulatory change, though, some people want to make it hard to understand why you should care. Let us make one thing clear, though: if you operate within the EU or work with EU citizens, you need to work with a GDPR specialist and make changes. Now.

While some make it out like GDPR is more ‘nanny state’ processing, it’s nothing of the sort. GDPR is among the most robust and staunch levels of data protection ever seen. Instead of going onto a website and finding you MUST accept a Privacy Policy that makes your data available in ways that you do not want, you instead get the opportunity to opt out without penalty.

You can also choose what, when and why your data is collected and its purpose. This means that you are no longer having to sign up to intrusive privacy policies just because you want to use a website or a service. It’s so important to understand that, while many EU directives could be seen as a negative, GDPR is nothing of the sort.

It’s one of the few global data protection modules that puts the power back in your hands. As a business owner, though, neglecting GDPR is dangerous.

Why should you care about GDPR?

Well, for one, you can receive a whopping fine up to 4% of your business turnover if you fail to comply. That is a lot of money, right?

You’ll also lose out on your reputation. As more of your competition get with the program and make GDPR stick, your readers and customers will want you to provide the same transparency. A failure to do so will only produce one thing: customer who are happy to go to you major rivals instead.

If you want to avoid that issue, it’s imperative that you move to GDPR regulation ASAP. You can work with a professional who will show you the best practice for safer in-house implementation. This allows you to get back to work quickly and avoid too much downtime, whilst making sure that your business is now both in regulatory safety and meets the stated requirements.

Things like e-mail addresses, names, employment credentials, location data and even earning potential are all unique identifiers that might be kept about you on a business file. If you wanted to remove that data, or simply see a copy of it, you now have the right to ask for that and receive it in good time.

It’s little things like this that mean you should care about GDPR. Customers now have more control over what data you have, and how you are allowed to use that data. Breaking such convention is dangerous, and is likely to only put you in one direction – and not a very good one at that!

For this reason, you should look to make GDPR compliance a must-have credential for your business. The longer that you fail to act on GDPR, the more challenging things will become for you in time. Act now, and save your stress for later!