Blog-post

Over the past two decades, technology has reached our lives to a new feat in ways that nobody could have imagined. Such hasty transformation across various business spheres further resulted into the need of reassessing the set of laws in the spectrum of technological advancement. Before we take a deep dive into the global buzz on European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), let’s catch a glimpse of this policy and its usefulness.

Way back in 90s when the Internet was in its initial phase, organisations were practising the old decree of data protection. However, with growing necessity of data protection in various operational wings, today all big shot organisations are busy getting themselves acclimatized with the transformed version of this age old concept called GDPR. There is no denying of the fact that the new directive will take at least couple of years transition time to bring a phenomenal overhaul in the said provision. To take this ride further to a significant level, time now to ask, where do you see your organisation in this data-driven race?  Are you aware of the key concepts of this initiative and way-forward? If NO is the answer then here’s what you need to plunge into:

The core facet of this data protection law is poised to underpin the data privacy for EU citizens, which was put into the practice in May 25, 2018. According to this law, organisations that process EU citizen’s data or located in the EU, should first get the assent from a competent authority while collecting the data by mentioning its actual purpose and use. Besides, organisations are equally required to inform the designated authority about any breach against the defined set of laws.

Organisations who are into regular activities pertinent to data collection through customer interaction, supervision and dissemination of sensitive data, should employ a Data Protection Representative to ensure that everything take place in the organisation is GDPR compliant. Taking the digital space of operation and data privacy into account, the future prospect of such organisations can be strengthened by building trust amongst the customers; and this can best be built by adhering to the directives of data protection.

Since the GDPR regime came into effect on 25th May, there has been a mixed retort from different verticals all together. One such sector to be considered at large in this regard is Visa and Travel Industry. Be it any organisation in the spectrum of travel and visa processing services, getting in touch with the visa applicants and their sensitive data, need to be equipped with the sheer stratagem of this regulation.

According to many industry veterans, more than 80% European and US firms will fall short of embracing the GDPR due diligence on time. While countries like Spain, Germany and Netherlands are reported to be more than 50% compliant to this data protection law. On the other hand, there are many Swedish firms as well that will need more time to fit into this vertical. In addition, business experts are also in the opinion that numbers of organisations are there that will be overlooking the business break from GDPR, and merely one-third of the firms will focus on falling in its defined directives. But this is to be imparted that organisations failing to comply with the set regulations of GDPR may be fined up to 4% of their annual revenue.

Considering the long term execution in the customer dealing services, GDPR going to empower the consumers taking action over their own data if in case it is misused by any organisation, or if the organisation fails to safeguard the sensitive data of their customers. As per the European market, 57% consumers will be open for taking actions against the service provider on non-compliance. Out of them, 71% will either stop continuing business with such service providers  or they will spread word of mouth pulling down the image of the brand.

Hence, it can be said that following the stringent rules of GDPR will not only facilitate the customers by uplifting their confidence assuring them an improved and protected data, but this will also help organisations with reduced cost of data maintenance and enriched alignment with evolving technology. Being a new oil in the field of contemporary digital economy and data protection, industries need to take an extensive approach towards GDPR ensuring that their consumer data are absolutely in the safe hand.