PMM Editor’s Viewpoint May 2018.
The word ‘data’ has taken on a whole new significance in recent years. In times gone by, it was the kind of term that was reserved for scientific studies and mathematicians, but now it seems that every type of commercial enterprise is in some way ‘data driven’. Irrespective of the industry that you operate in, if you’re not thinking about how your business ‘captures’ data, handles data and shares data, you really should be.
“GDPR, which comes into effect on 25th May this year, has been described as the single most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years, and it is not to be ignored.”
Recent news bulletins have been dominated by data ‘hacks’ or instances of misuse of personal data by large corporations. A widely-used social media platform that rhymes with Bacehook, for example, recently found itself in hot water for improperly sharing the personal data of 87 million people. When you think about it, it’s actually quite a terrifying prospect that global corporations hold detailed dossiers full of your personal information, which could be wantonly shared with anyone in the world.
It is for this reason that data protection is such a rapidly evolving aspect of the law, and why regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) are being so vehemently pressed upon businesses. GDPR, which comes into effect on 25th May this year, has been described as the single most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years, and it is not to be ignored. Of course, these regulations will potentially have a huge impact on social media providers and other global businesses that deal in the currency of data, but what does it all mean for the independent garage?
There is an enormous amount of documentation, supplementary documentation and guidelines surrounding GDPR, and I seriously doubt there are many people in the entire world that have read and understand it all. So, the best that any industry body or business leader can do is summarise the key points that are of most relevance to stakeholders, and try to establish best practice for compliance. To this end, the IGA has recently produced a ‘garage guide to GDPR’, which members should now have received. The take-home point is that GDPR affects all kinds of businesses, including garages, and non-compliance can result in a hefty fine – potentially up to 4% of annual turnover.
In the day-to-day operation of your business, you are constantly dealing with customers’ personal data. You probably have (or at least you should have) a comprehensive database of all of the vehicles you’ve ever serviced, complete with information about the owner. The data fields will probably extend to each customer’s contact number, email address and potentially their home address as well. Do you send out regular correspondence to this database? If so, do you have the consent of each individual on that list? Do you give customers the option to opt out of receiving marketing material from you? These are just a few of the questions that you should be asking yourself in the build up to GDPR coming into effect.
