There is building momentum about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) which come into force in May this year. They are an update to the the Data Protection Act which currently governs how we, as business owners, must look after the data that is in our possesion.
I had been thinking of providing some information about GDPR to my clients because it affects systems on a number of levels. Most of the systems we use in our businesses involve data and so they are likely to be affected by the new regulations. Then I had a bit of a wobble, there were lawyers muttering about how you needed to be legally qualified in order to give advice on GDPR and I nearly threw the towel in. After all, who was I to talk about GDPR?
They I remembered that throughout my corporate life I had been responsible for turning (sometimes extremely complicated) policies into real live systems and not only that but I had been pretty good at it! I was heavily involved in designing and implementing the Freedom of Information Act systems and Policies at the government organisation I was working with as it went live and I have been involved in Data Protection issues in nearly every implementation I was involved with.
Plus I am a bit fed up with the lawyers saying that small businesses need to fork out lots of money to comply with the new regulations. To quote the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) “GDPR requires the information to be provided in concise, easy to understand and clear language.” This is not something I feel lawyers excel at.
So I am putting my stake in the ground and over the next few weeks I will sharing my GDPR journey, hinging round what systems I am putting in place or tweaks I am making to existing systems to make mybusiness GDPR compliant.
I’m also not just going to say GPDR says this but share the content of the regulations and explain why I am making the changes I am in my business. Hopefully this will help you to be able to do the same in yours.
Finally, I did think about seeking a qualification but a bit of investigation showed that while there are some (very expensive) qualifications out there, they aren’t actually endorsed by the Information Commisioner’s Office (ICO) or regulated in a any way. Also, having used up a number of days of my life on similar training, I’m not sure that I have enough time left on earth to go through a further 4 days of it! If you speak to someone saying they are qualified, make sure the qualification is worth more than the paper it is written on!
If you want to seek legal advice then that’s all good but if you don’t have the budget or want to understand why you are doing things in your business then stick around to find out more.