Preparing For GDPR: What You Need To Know

The countdown to GDPR-mageddon 2018 is in its final months. Organisations that don’t yet have a compliance strategy are facing imminent crunch time.

Here at ClarityDX, we’ve put in a lot of man-hours into evaluating our processes in-house, externally, locally and internationally. After all—statistics show that 26.4% of the internet is powered by WordPress. GDPR compliance is just as important for us as it is for our clients, and we’ve been working hard to develop some interesting technology-driven ways of simplifying GDPR implementation for our clients. Get in touch if you want to know more.

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation helps to regulate how companies use, store and protect the data of EU citizens. It’s an up-to-date replacement for the 1995 Data Protection Directive (or what we in the UK know as the 1998 Data Protection Act).

The European Parliament and Council agreed on the General Data Protection Regulation last year and it comes into effect on 25th May 2018, giving all businesses two years to plan and implement new processes.

GDPR regulation requires businesses to take better care of the data they hold on customers and staff. This includes: gaining consent for data processing, enhancing privacy by making collected data anonymous, increasing security so that organisations are immediately notified of data breaches and appointing a GDPR officer, to name just a few.

General Data Protection Regulation fines for non-compliance can be hefty. They range from level 1 fines, which are up to €10,000,000 or 2% of a company’s global annual turnover, to level 2, which can be up to €20,000,000 or 4% of a company’s global annual turnover.

Who does GDPR apply to?

The new regulation will apply to organisations that process personal data belonging to EU citizens, especially if they have over 250 employees. Personal data refers to: “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person” and includes information you may hold on current or potential employees. All sectors and industries are affected.

Introducing: our free downloadable GDPR guide

Because ClarityDX builds services that will be affected by GDPR, we have a duty to help our clients become compliant. It’s not just our responsibility as a business, but as members of society, too. We understand the possibilities of data, as well as the damage that can be done when it’s used irresponsibly.

To give you all the resources you need to find out how to become GDPR compliant, we’ve created a strategy guide with the help of leading Open Source technology digital agencies and web development law expert, Heather Burns.

The guide takes you through exactly what GDPR is and gives a plain English overview on how each section of the new legislation may affect you. The guide also explains which members of your team will feel the impact and how you can prepare them for it. You’ll also get additional resources for the UK, Europe and outside the EU, so you can get your hands on extra information if you need it.