Executing compliance transformation with the GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was put into effect on May 25, 2018. For many companies, this is a shift in the balance of power when it comes to data storage and protection. It gives greater control to the individual consumer. All businesses operating in the European Union are subject to the new constraints of the GDPR.

In order for your company to perform compliance transformation for the GDPR and still produce the ideal customer experience, a variety of tools will need to be used to extract the desired experience analytics. If your company is not prepared at the enterprise level to manage the specifics of the GDPR, then you will not be ready to manage each individual session. Giving each consumer more control over their data means you need to have better control over the input of that data in the first place.

Individual session tactics

Because the data you collect can be controlled by the individual after it’s triggered, viewing the customer experience as it happens is more important than ever. Website session recording can allow an anonymous tracking of the path a customer took to reach a certain point so that you can determine when or if something went wrong. By storing the session data, even without a name, your company can still get an accurate view of what happened during the user’s session.

There is a lot of information to be gained by looking at an individual session, and it’s not always about troubleshooting; it’s about improving the overall customer experience. As your data technicians work to update the systems to be GDPR-compliant, your service team can look at the same information from a consumer’s point of view.

Without the individual’s data, you will need to put yourself in their shoes. Try logging into your website from an outside terminal, and then looking at the experience through both sides of the mirror. What is the customer seeing that you’re not? Are they given the correct options for data security that fit the confines of the GDPR? What is preventing the individual from having an enhanced digital experience?

Fitting that experience into the GDPR compliance transformation

The GDPR offers a new level of privacy to EU consumers, one that has not yet been seen in today’s digital age. Even though the GDPR has already been laid out, many companies are still scrambling to achieve compliance transformation with their software or hardware.

There are three steps a company can take to ensure that this program is both well-implemented for the protection of the customer’s data and for you to improve the customer journey on your website:

1. Know Where Everything Is: Make sure you know where your data is stored, and that it can be easily accessed. The GDPR gives the customer/individual the right to make changes or have their data erased, so while the data needs to remain secured, it also needs to remain accessible.
2. Have a Point Person: While the GDPR will certainly be a collaborative project, one person needs to spearhead it to make sure all the branches within your company follow suit. This person will also serve as the contact for any periodic compliance checks or reviews in the coming years.
3. Explain it to Your Customers: A lot of companies have been sending out updates to their online terms and conditions with changes regarding the GDPR. However, not every customer is going to read those terms. It could pay off well in the end to make the customer feel more secure to have their rights reviewed as they enter their information on your site.

While the GDPR rollout allowed a substantial amount of time for system updates, that doesn’t mean every company has their setups at 100% yet. Before announcing your compliance transformation, review your systems and security and make sure you are ready to bridge this new divide into the next generation of data protection.