GDPR can turn into an opportunity

Is your website GDPR compliant?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ushers in a new era in data privacy and accordingly it is highly recommended to ensure your website is GDPR compliant – even if you are not located in the EU (Europe). You might wonder now why is that and why you should care, what is happening in Europe. In this case GDPR can be an opportunity. We will explain in this article why. First let us go through in a nutshell what GPDR means and what it is about:

What is GDPR?

The main concern of GDPR are the privacy rights of EU citizens and providing these internet users more control over their data.

For companies, governments and other entities GPDR establishes rules how to process data of individuals from the EU. While most regulations already existed in EU countries, GDPR looks to align them.

Furthermore to modernize the regulations to today's needs, referring here to the modern internet and how the usage overall has developed. Some regulations simply haven’t been up to date anymore.

Who does GDPR apply to?

The GDPR not only applies to companies and organizations located within the EU but also applies to those located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behaviour of, EU data subjects.

What happens if you are not GDPR compliant?

Let us not talk about fines here, we all know that and I don't want to scare you. Failure to comply will likely result in your organisation acquiring a poor reputation which could lead to a decline in consumer trust. Companies may even start to receive information requests from consumers, where you must state what personal data you hold on them up to fines from officials in worst case.

GDPR can be an opportunity

GDPR can turn into an opportunity for you, especially for businesses from outside the EU Zone. If you take steps to ensure that your business is compliant with the law, you are much better perceived in the EU and are secured of possible fines. To be upfront competitors and building trust amongst your customers, can be a real opportunity.

So how to get GDPR compliant with Salesforce?

Salesforce provides companies with the tools to achieve compliance and build trust amongst your customers. They are having a great GDPR overview if you want to understand things quickly.

Trailhead is another solid source of information and also offering learning units to understand GDPR better. Furthermore you can learn how to make your website compliant by implementing it properly. To get started I can recommend Trailhead’s Learn Privacy and Data Protection Law and Implement a GDPR Compliance Program.