Why you should make the EU’s new GDPR your friend

The authorities tell you that your organization has to do something really complicated and expensive. “Hurray!” should be your reaction, according to Bjørn Søland, technical expert at identity and security company Nexus Group.

Here at Nexus, we have seen an increase in customer interest in our technology due to their ongoing work to comply with the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

From May 25, 2018, organizations that fail to have the routines and documentation in place that GDPR requires, can get fines of up to 2% of their global (yes, global!) revenue. Serious breaches against the regulation can lead to fines of up 4% of a company’s global revenue.

This has created great attention all the way to the top management in organizations handling personal data about EU citizens, which are almost all European organizations as well as many organizations outside of the EU.

GDPR is a good thing for the privacy of the individual. It shifts the power to the users: the service providers no longer own the data about individuals and cannot do whatever they want with the data.

Read our guide How to prepare for the GDPR – and turn it from foe to friend                                                  

This thinking is very different compared to the US, and I bet we are going to see some well-known social media companies in European courts in 2018.

But – contrary to what many believe – GDPR can also be beneficial for most organizations. If an organization does not know where its data is or have insufficient security and access controls in place, it is running a risky business. Organizations fulfilling the requirements given in the GDPR will have better control, better security and run less operational risk. You can also choose to take the opportunity to make the interactions with your external users more frictionless, as well as making your internal users’ work easier.

Keep that in mind while you prepare for 2018.

Nexus believes in making life as easy as possible for your users, both internal and external. By choosing the right supporting technology to live up to the GDPR you are not only making GDPR your friend – you are making yourself a better friend of your users too.

We have put together a guide on how to turn the GDPR from enemy to friend, and it covers all aspects of the new regulation – not only the technological ones. So, go read it, and then go do it! May 25, 2018, will be here in no time.

Bjørn Søland, technical expert at Nexus Group.