Over the past few months, we have all been receiving numerous emails on our accounts from various companies and sites – some of which we had signed up to such a long time ago, that we have no recollection of ever doing so. These emails are being sent out by these companies in an attempt to fall in line with the new GDPR legislation.

Such companies are obviously working on their GDPR compliance by getting their ‘lapsed’ customers to either consciously re-engage with the company (opt-in), or else they will be deleted from their database, either through non-engagement or by opting out. You could ask why my outdated details are still on there, after so long, as I am clearly not a current or recent user of their service, and therefore the communications they have had with me over the years have effectively been nothing more than ‘spam’, which is not a great reflection on their brand.

This action is being taken by these companies because of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules which came into effect across the EU on May 25th, 2018 and affect every business that holds data of EU citizens whether based in or outside the EU. Although this exercise may be quite a major task for them, especially if they have thousands of very old users still on their systems, these companies are using this GDPR compliance exercise to structure the data they are holding.

The new regulations can, therefore, be used as a positive for businesses holding data. Whilst the task of identifying ‘data pools’ in a business may take some time initially, if done correctly and with the right mindset, it will help to hold a mirror up to the way the business is currently operating and raise the question ‘why?’. Businesses we have worked with have found masses of time and money wasted by using their database without focus or much thought and have even found some departments within the business using data gathered by non-related parts of the same company, just to add more names to their own database!

So, whilst there may not be too many business owners thrilled with having to comply with the new regulations on data, some elements could be embraced to actually focus on helping their business become more effective, productive and profitable.

If you haven’t got your GDPR house in order, or perhaps still working on being fully compliant, now would be a good time! For some practical advice on how to identify what the regulations mean to you, how you can look at this regulatory requirement in a positive way for your business, and get you started on the process with appropriate documentation, get in touch with Business Doctors Malta.

Business Doctors Malta offers a free 60-minute business health check for businesses interested in achieving their next level of growth. Get in touch on +35679903685 or at info@businessdoctors.com.mt.

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