Mike Capizzi, Director of Education and a Member of the Board of Regents at The Loyalty Academy
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from The Wise Marketer, a website and newsletter serving the global loyalty industry.
A new study from IBM reveals that 59 percent of organizations surveyed are embracing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as an opportunity to improve privacy, security and data management.
Among other findings from the survey of 1,500 business leaders responsible for GDPR:
- Eighty percent believe that proof of GDPR compliance will be a positive differentiator to the public;
- Seventy-six percent said that GDPR will enable more trusted relationships with data subjects that will create new business opportunities.
Companies’ preparation for GDPR comes in the wake of increased scrutiny from consumers on businesses’ management of personal data. A separate poll of 10,000 consumers, conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of IBM, found that only 20 percent of U.S. consumers completely trust organizations they interact with to maintain the privacy of their data.
Another key finding of the IBM study is that organizations are using GDPR as an opportunity to streamline their approach to data and reduce the overall amount of data they are managing. According to the new study:
- Eighty percent say they are cutting down on the amount of personal data they keep;
- Seventy-eight percent are reducing the number of people who have access to personal data;
- Seventy percent are disposing of data that is no longer needed.
Despite this opportunity, only 36 percent believed they would be fully compliant with GDPR by last week’s (May 25) deadline. Challenges associated with GDPR implementation include locating all the personal data in disparate databases and systems, verifying the accuracy of the data collected and stored, complying with rules for how data is analyzed and shared, handling of cross-border data transfers and getting consent from data subjects, and meeting the requirement for companies to report data breaches to regulators within 72 hours.
IBM’s Cindy Compert, CTO for data security and privacy, said the arrival of GDPR amid the “huge distrust” from consumers has “created a perfect storm for companies to rethink their approach to data responsibility and begin to restore the trust needed in today’s data-driven economy.”