Having been in the advertising industry for more than 25 years, one of our managing partners, Ian Oswald has seen laws and data protection regulation change over time. Here, he discusses the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it’s a great opportunity for marketers to create new, compliant databases …

Recent GDPR headlines have created unease amongst many businesses by heavily focussing on non-compliancy and dwelling on extensive fines that could be potentially levied against those who do not comply.  However, while the new regulations do pose a challenge, there are also many opportunities available to marketers who have the appropriate strategies and procedures in place when preparing for GDPR.  

As the new GDPR regulations come into place in May next year, us as a business and many of our clients have already started to put into place processes to implement the new regulations. GDPR will make companies more responsible for documenting how they collect personal data, how consent is given, how the data will be processed, stored and shared and also the ‘right to be forgotten’- ensuring it is as easy to remove consent to use data as it is to give it. After recent misuse of data and data breaches by high profile companies, consumers can be forgiven for being concerned about the security of their personal data and how it is used.

Click here to find out more about GDPR, and the opportunities it can create in this month's Northern Insight Magazine.