You and Me Together Always. Learning to Love GDPR
17 years after the Millennium Bug caused angst and stress for IT engineers around the world, The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) is scheduled for introduction on May 25, 2018 and promises similar grief but without confetti, fireworks and a glass a champagne to add to the excitement. The GDPR will create a new normal of shared responsibility and reminds us that our digital selves have real value. As an agency, with MarTech at our heart, a key take-away for us is the cementing of processor and controller into a tighter relationship. GDPR makes both parties jointly responsible for compliance and keeping our digital selves safe.
Existing relationships between controllers and processors have been very much of the “Us & Them”, rather than “You and Me” approach. The requirement for a more comprehensive understanding of processing by controllers has been hampered by the invisibility of processing as a “thing”. Equally, the sometimes-imaginative methods behind data gathering can benefit from the more structured and rigorous thinking IT functions demands.
A bit of a sea change to client/vendor/supplier/partner relationships is on the way. The finger can no longer be pointed in another direction, all parties equally and transparently have to collaborate to resolve the conundrums around security, privacy, convenience and MarTech’s raison d’ete of reach, access and insight. What to do?
Privacy by design is the first step in sharing success to avoid taking seats in the dock. This highly inclusive and analytical approach is a very good thing and is in line with much of thinking (I hope) in politics, the economy and education– we are all involved, we are all responsible, we are all accountable - not just for ourselves but each other.