With less than 7 months until the new EU legislation, GDPR, comes into force, many businesses are still unsure about what they need know and how they need to prepare. To help small businesses understand the implications of the changes, Really Simple Systems will be running regular, live webinars examining the key points and how to become compliant.
Presented by Really Simple Systems’ CEO, John Paterson, the first webinar is scheduled for Thursday 19th October and will be repeated in November. Titled “Understanding the Implications of GDPR for your Business” it will explain the new regulations, why it has been introduced and how the legislation will affect businesses, both in the EU and elsewhere in the world. The webinar will also include practical tips on how small business owners can prepare for the change and be compliant.
Paterson explains “This is the biggest marketing and compliance challenge businesses have faced for some time yet there is a lot of uncertainty around what exactly GDPR entails. One major area of confusion is how GDPR interplays with the forthcoming changes to the Privacy in Electronic Communications (PECR) legislation, and whether B2B marketing will be treated as different from B2C.”
GDPR Compliance
Having already announced that Really Simple Systems CRM is GDPR compliant well in advance of the deadline of 25th May 2018, Paterson is keen to provide support for the company’s customer base and other SMEs. He comments, “ensuring your customer data is held by a GDPR compliant data processor is one of the first steps businesses need to take. As well as checking your CRM is compliant, you need to look at any other systems you use, for example your accounting system and HR system. Make sure they only hold data in the EC and are, or will be, GDPR compliant.”
Paterson continues “if you are running email marketing campaigns you’ll need to start capturing explicit consents from your new enquiries and from current contacts. Pre-ticked acceptance boxes will no longer be valid and consent will need to be gained from a dedicated checkbox, or by clicking a dedicated link from an email. Check your email marketing system is able to comply and that it records how and when consent was given.”
Over the coming months Really Simple Systems will run further webinars examining the legislation in more detail and covering any developments.
What is GDPR?
The GDPR is an EC regulation designed to protect the privacy of EC citizens, ensure their data is not exported out of the EC to countries that do not have adequate privacy laws, and makes sure that citizens have control over how their data is used.
