Author: Jack Bailey-Grundy

When I first heard about GDPR and thought about the marketing teams I’ve worked with over the years, my first thought was “how are they going to keep mailing their databases?” But as time goes on, as this article suggests, I’ve reached the conclusion that GDPR is a huge opportunity for B2B marketers to catch up to the latest trends.

How often have you thought that your data needs an overhaul, a tidy, an update – but you just haven’t had time? How often have you seen a new technique you’d like to try from a B2C marketing world, but found yourself with the wrong information to achieve the end result?

With GDPR deadlines, Marketing teams everywhere have a specific deadline they must work towards and must make time in their schedules to get their databases in good order. So what better time to take this opportunity to review your most basic business practices – capturing data and communicating with customers. As the article says, consumers now are “expecting a level of service that first and foremost recognises them as individuals” – and we all have a perfect opportunity to go out with old, outdated techniques, capturing data in dubious fashions, and drive excellence across the business.

 

…while many organisations might regard the scramble to clean up their data ahead of the compliance deadline as a headache… I believe marketers and data professionals alike should view this deadline as an opportunity to improve the quality of their customer data once and for all.  

 

OK, so this post’s title is a little bit hyperbolic – and much of the content of the article has been known for a long time. But it’s still worth remembering the basics.

Continue reading “Why the marketing campaign is dead and what should replace it” →

As the clock ticks down to GDPR implementation, every company in every industry will be studiously inspecting the laws and regulations to see how it applies to them. But across the board it seems that there’s widespread confusion as to what it covers. Does it cover existing data? How does it affect boilerplate contracts? And now the latest – is it in  force already?

According to a number of Legal and Security specialists, the GDPR technically came into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. This occurred on 4th May 2016. But the fines themselves will not apply until next year.

Nevertheless, a data breach now, could incur a retrospective punishment once those fines come into law next year. An undiscovered breach, or a breach that isn’t resolved by next year, could be exposed to the higher penalties.

But the ICO themselves seem clear that the Data Protection Act is still the legislation that carries weight in the UK.

Confused? Well, the clear message here, is get prepared – make sure your data is clean, start putting opt-in principles in place and seek legal advice relevant to your business to ensure you are in the best possible position well before May 2018.

 

“Actually GDPR is in force now, but what’s not in place yet is the penalties,” said Kenyon. “So if there’s a breach now, the ICO could hold on to it and give you the penalties in May 2018,” she suggested.