Let’s use GDPR as an opportunity to lead the global thinking around privacy and innovation

There is certainly a lot of activity now around GDPR, but are many organisations missing a trick? Could they move forward from looking only at how to comply with legislation to thinking how they can look at the new rules as an opportunity for their brands?

No matter what company you work in, you’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed the urgent need to take action in the light of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), so I’m not going to labour it here. Fines of up to €20m or 4% of global annual turnover are enough to focus the attention of any company. However, many advertisers I’ve spoken to still don’t have a plan in place that they are comfortable with, and many others won’t have their plan implemented in time for the deadline of 25 May 2018.

Understandably, much of the advice I've heard being offered seems to view GDPR as a compliance box-ticking exercise. For some brands this may be the right approach as they will view the legislation as something they can’t take risks with. Business models aren’t “one size fits all”. However, I feel many should see the impetus as a way of leveraging a competitive advantage and also, of course, of acting in the best interest of their customers.

They can do this by placing data governance and privacy considerations as a key element of their value propositions to foster greater trust. Using data creatively, certainly, but in a responsible way. For example: the GDPR creates greater transparency obligations for organisations. This is to be welcomed but how is this achieved in a meaningful and user-centric way?

There are still “known unknowns”, but it is clear GDPR is a game-changer, updating legislation for today’s data-driven digital world (and accordingly bringing more data into the regulatory net). It tightens the conditions for data use, provides individuals with greater control over their information and harmonises the new rules across markets and borders.

One of the most important facts about GDPR is that its territorial scope means it will have a global impact. Brexit is unlikely to alter this.