Taking care of data regulation and ticking the right compliance boxes

Your business faces an increasingly complex regulatory landscape when it comes to data privacy, consumer protection and industry-specific compliance requirements.

Keeping on top of these compliance requirements is a complex task. Failing to meet your requirements can have serious implications, with non-compliance (whether intentional or accidental) resulting in legal repercussions and possible reputational damage for the company.

Taking excellent care of your customer data

We live in a digital world, where your organisation collects huge amounts of data from your customers. This includes contact details, financial information, credit card details and detailed breakdowns of their spending habits and buying preferences.

In an effort to protect this data and preserve customer privacy, there are various data regulations that you must comply with.

A sample of these global data privacy laws include:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU
• The Data Protection Act 2018 in the UK
• The Privacy Act 2020 in Australia
• The Privacy Act 2020 in New Zealand
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act in the USA

Depending on your organisation's home territory, and where you trade, there may well be international, national and local data regulations to comply with. That’s a lot to get your head around, especially if you’re new to business and not familiar with the legal framework.

So, what can you do to make your compliance journey simpler and as effective as possible?

Here are five simple steps to enhance your compliance:

1. Work closely with legal advisers – compliance can get complicated if you’re not a legal expert. It’s sensible to seek advice from legal professionals, so you understand the specific compliance obligations for your industry and region.
2. Run regular compliance audits – it’s important to conduct regular risk assessments of your in-house data compliance. This helps your organisation comply with all the relevant regulations and industry standards and stay updated with changes to compliance law.
3. Protect your customer data – your customers expect you to take good care of their data, both personal and financial. Secure your customer and business data through end-to-end encryption and use of the best data privacy practices.
4. Deliver regular training and keep your employees up to speed – your team needs to know the latest rules around compliance and what’s required of them. This means running frequent compliance training, so there’s a culture of compliance awareness.
5. Use the latest data storage solutions – with so much customer data being generated, it’s important to use up-to-date documentation management and data storage software. This keeps the records and data you need safe, organised and easy to access.

Getting a grip on data compliance is a team effort. It’s important to work with legal, IT and data security professionals to ensure your organisation is ticking all the correct compliance boxes.

As your business adviser, we can connect you with experts in all the relevant compliance areas, so you get the advice, support and training you need as an organisation.