With six months to go to the EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becoming law, 76pc of organisations have yet to review products to ensure they are GDPR compliant. That is according to research by Callcredit Information Group. Yet marketers’ confidence isn’t wavered by this with most (84pc) thinking that those who must know about GDPR know what they need to.
The “The GDPR and the new data landscape. Are you ready?” report also found that one in five (20pc) businesses have set up teams to lead GDPR initiatives and only 32pc have contacted third party technical support to inform their GDPR decisions. Despite the regulation coming into effect in May 2018, less than half (48pc) of businesses have introduced processes to manage customer consent and data, or reviewed their customer data for compliance purposes (45pc).
Steve McNicholas, Managing Director, Credit and Marketing Data, Callcredit Information Group, says: “Our research indicates that although businesses are aware and understand the impact and intentions of GDPR, many have yet to carry out some basic activities to prepare for it. As GDPR implementation is just over six months away, businesses should act now to ensure they are prepared to deal with the change.”
The lack of preparedness is surprising, the credit checking agency says, considering the benefits businesses think the GDPR can deliver, including improvements in overall customer data quality (56pc), customer service (35pc) and the ability to be smarter at attracting and maintaining customers (45pc).
The report, which also asked consumers about their attitudes towards the GDPR and data sharing, found that a majority (79pc) of consumers would like it to be simpler for them to withdraw consent for their personal data to be used by businesses. And encouragingly, that 75pc would be more likely to share information with companies if the GDPR was in place.
Steve McNicholas adds: “Businesses that are trusted, and viewed as transparent and responsible by consumers are far more likely to gain preferred supplier status. This is especially true for those companies that use data to personalise their products and services and offer something back to the consumer. But if businesses fall behind in preparing for the GDPR, they risk losing trust, commerce and, most worryingly in the data age, the right to use the data and insight they have taken years to gather.”
