Protecting data is crucial for any business, and it can also have a positive impact on culture. When employees feel that their data is being protected, they are more likely to trust their employer and feel valued.
Protecting data is crucial for businesses and has numerous benefits that positively impact both employees and the company’s overall success. In addition to increasing trust and value felt by employees, robust data protection policies can lead to improved productivity and reduced risk of breaches.
When businesses safeguard sensitive information, they can provide a secure environment for employees to work in, which can boost morale and ultimately lead to increased efficiency. Additionally, having reliable data protection measures in place can help prevent costly breaches and other security incidents, saving the company both time and money. Overall, prioritizing data protection is not only a responsible business practice but also a wise investment in the company’s long-term success.
Improving Culture
Here are some ways data protection can improve the business culture:
1. Build trust: By implementing strong data protection policies and procedures, businesses can demonstrate to their employees that they take privacy seriously. This can help build trust and loyalty among employees, leading to a more positive work environment.
2. Encourage transparency: When businesses are transparent about their data protection practices, it can encourage employees to be more open and honest about their work. This can lead to better communication and collaboration, improving overall corporate culture.
3. Foster responsibility: Businesses can create a sense of ownership and accountability by empowering employees to take responsibility for data protection. This can lead to a more responsible and ethical corporate culture.
4. Accurate and compassionate recording: This is particularly important when writing about other people. Communicating compassionately about others and recording that accurately can be difficult. But once mastered, can enhance a positive working environment and culture.
4. Enhance security: By implementing strong data protection measures, businesses can enhance overall security and reduce the risk of data breaches. This can create a sense of employee safety and security, improving corporate culture.
5. Promote compliance: When businesses comply with data protection regulations and standards, it can create a culture of compliance and ethics. This can lead to a more positive and productive work environment.
Final note
Data protection can positively impact corporate culture. By building trust, encouraging transparency, fostering responsibility, enhancing security, and promoting compliance, businesses can create a culture that values privacy and ethics.
I have been reviewing our company’s data protection policies and amending the style and language that I use to make them even less jargon-y. We must always ensure the safety and privacy of our customers’ information. We should consider implementing more robust security measures and regularly updating our policies to stay current with new regulations or threats.
It’s also essential that all employees are adequately trained on these policies to prevent any accidental breaches. If you would like to know more about how we can support your business through a health check, implementation or training, then book a free discovery call here.
Let’s work together to ensure the highest level of data protection for our customers.
If GDPR and compliance are a concern for you or your organisation, don’t worry. Taking all the different aspects in at once can (and probably has) caused everyone to feel a little overwhelmed at some point. But it doesn’t need to. Here are the five tips to know about and why they matter.
Transparency
When it comes to GDPR, transparency is a fundamental principle. The reason why that’s the case is simple. It gives individuals as much control over their data as possible and facilitates their rights.
Control and rights are both fundamental underpinning principles of GDPR.
How does a company demonstrate transparency? The content of privacy notices is a good start. Good, compliant examples include
the contact details of the company;
if required, the Data Protection Officer,
the purpose and lawful bases for processing the data
and the categories of personal data you hold to name a few.
Mapping your data
Data mapping confuses some, but its principle is relatively easy. Mapping your data means establishing what information you hold and exactly how it flows through your company. This type of audit (also known as a mapping exercise) should be performed regularly by assigned individuals.
Doing so ensures it is maintained and amended as needed by a person or persons who are aware of their responsibilities.
Reporting breaches
Breaches can unfortunately happen, and on a long enough timescale, something similar to the list below probably will.
Data breaches can take many forms, such as:
Device loss or theft
Phishing scams
Hacking
Lost or stolen external USB drives
Breaches can also result from carelessness or lack of awareness, such as unattended computers and, especially recently, working from home on unauthorised personal devices and unprotected networks.
Reporting breaches of personal data have been mandatory since before the GDPR came into force. It just became more visible,, and the assessment for reporting changed. The Information Commissioner’s Office has a dedicated section for more information about breach reporting.
Knowing your subject’s rights
Data subjects have a wide range of rights relating to the data you hold about them, making it essential to know why you are processing the information you hold about them.
Data subjects have some or all of the following rights:
The right to be informed (Including why you are processing their data, how long you intend to retain it and who you might share it with.)
A right of access (Typically referred to as a Subject Access Request or SAR which must be dealt with in a timely way.)
The right to rectification (If the subject feels their data is incomplete or inaccurate.)
A right to erasure (Also known as the right to be forgotten, sometimes for legal reasons this may not always apply)
The right to restrict processing (In certain circumstances, an individual as the right to store their data but to stop you using it.)
A right to portability (The right to obtain their data and reuse it for another purpose or service.)
Being accountable
For both controllers and processors, demonstrating compliance and putting measures in place to meet the requirements for accountability will mitigate the risk of enforcement action. Still, it will also build trust in your business and its services and raise you above the competition.
For help and advice around transparency, avoiding breaches, mapping the data you use, subject’s rights and accountability, get in touch today; I’d love to offer you help and advice in the field I specialise in.
Whenever compliance and accreditation are discussed, many of us focus on ensuring everything is okay without considering the potential benefits.
We think about the mandatory things we need to do to ensure our products and services are legally safe, that they adhere to the standards set out for them and that our teams are working in a safe, compliant environment.
We invest a lot of time and resources into ensuring those boxes are ticked; we have to, after all! However, there is also a whole range of other accreditation and certification that isn’t mandatory.
You and your business have already put in the hard work to get the compliance you need; is it worth your time to bother with anything else?
Yes, it is. It can pay off in all kinds of ways…
Gaining an edge
You don’t need me to tell you any competitive business advantage is worth grabbing with both arms. Taking compliance and accreditation to the next level is a powerful way to do that…
Boost your reputation and allow you to gain a competitive edge over others in your industry
Win you more business and empower you to bid for lucrative contracts with external agencies
Improve the inner ethos of your organisation, maximising staff morale, productivity and giving your teams a real sense of pride
Win trust and confidence in your business, which can be essential in some sectors, such as social care or the financial sector
Drive growth for small to medium-sized businesses
Accreditation can highlight legal compliance, green credentials, and an ethos of sustainability.
Investing in your business and its people
The range of accreditation out there for your business can be considerable. It ranges from ISO standards like ISO 27001 (managing information), ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety), and ISO 9001 (quality management) to industry-specific accreditation that will allow you to bid for contracts with government agencies, schools, and the NHS. For charitable organisations, accreditations such as NCVO can demonstrate their trustworthiness and win the confidence of potential donors.
On an individual level, accreditation can also have a positive impact; mental health champions, data protection, and safeguarding, to name just a few, are all precious accredited courses for key employees; they might also go some way towards gaining Investors in People accreditation, an award which any forward thinking company should be proud of.
A sign of quality that is easy to share
Showcasing your accreditation is an easy and effective way to show your qualities to the world and prove that you stand head and shoulders above your competitors. You can add them to your website’s homepage as logos, share them via your social media channels, blog about the important part they play in your company’s story, send out newsletters and even contact the local paper!
You’ve gone the extra mile, after all. Why wouldn’t you want to shout about it from the rooftops with pride and passion?
If you are working towards gaining accreditation to drive growth and demonstrate your quality, collating the right materials and information and presenting it in the correct format is essential. Failing to do so can cost you time, money, and more than a bit of frustration.
In today’s digital age, data protection is not just a legal requirement but a cornerstone of trust and reliability in business. For micro and small businesses, managing data protection alongside many other responsibilities can be overwhelming.
In the digital era, where data breaches and compliance fines are a real threat, the need to delegate data protection to a specialist becomes paramount. For small and micro businesses, navigating the complexities of data protection laws such as the Data Protection Act 2018, UK GDPR, and PECR can be daunting. This is where the significance of delegating data protection comes into play.
Here’s why a specialist is indispensable:
Expert Knowledge: Data protection specialists are well-versed in the intricacies of laws and regulations. Their expertise ensures that your business remains compliant, avoiding costly legal pitfalls.
Risk Mitigation: Specialists in data protection are adept at identifying and addressing potential security vulnerabilities, significantly reducing the risk of data breaches and the associated financial and reputational damages.
Focus on Core Business: By delegating data protection, your business can concentrate on its core competencies, which are essential for growth and sustainability.
Cost-Effectiveness: Investing in a specialist is often more cost-effective than managing data protection in-house. It saves resources spent on training and keeping up with evolving legislation.
Customer Confidence: Demonstrating a commitment to data protection through a specialist can significantly boost customer trust and loyalty, as it shows a dedication to safeguarding their personal information.
Why Choose Michelle Molyneux Business Consulting?
Choosing Michelle Molyneux Business Consulting for your data protection needs is a decision that offers both peace of mind and strategic advantage. With their deep understanding of data protection laws and a track record of effectively managing risks, they provide a service tailored to small and micro businesses’ unique needs. Their proactive approach not only ensures compliance and security but also positions your business as trustworthy and responsible in the eyes of your customers. Partnering with Michelle Molyneux Business Consulting means you’re not just meeting legal requirements; you’re elevating your business in the realms of security, trust, and professionalism.
It is always worth bearing in mind that, whether we are aware of the fact or not, the data which our businesses rely on builds up over time. It becomes a sort of inventory even if we don’t plan for it so that inventory has to be organised.
We don’t just do this to achieve GDPR compliance. There’s a whole range of other tangible benefits, too; a good data policy also aids productivity and efficiency, earns customer trust, and allows you to market your services and products in much more focused and effective ways.
It might seem counterintuitive, but those end goals are also an ideal starting point. If you begin building any new data inventory with those goals in mind, it will allow you to form the important questions you need to ask to get it right. Similarly, if you are data mapping existing processes where you feel improvement is needed, it can really help too.
A useful, if unusual guide…
The ‘five bums and a rugby post’ method, despite the unusual name, is a great formula for helping you ask the big questions when it comes to data, and if nothing else, it will certainly stick in your mind.
Imagine five rugby players sitting on the bar of a Rugby post. That’s five ‘w’ shapes and one large ‘H’. Those bums represent five important questions; Who, What, Where, When and Why?
The rugby post itself (the large ‘H’) represents the final question; How.
How does this apply to data inventory? Let’s look a little closer…
Who?
In the context of GDPR, this simply asks whose data you process. It might be clients, patients, employees, and business partners; it’s an important and logical first step.
What data to include in the inventory?
You guessed it, what kinds of data do you hold; is it personal data, for example, or is it sensitive data, it might be anything from information on a fitness device, and search engine queries to bank details and medical records, each is different, and those differences are vital.
Where?
Where is your data stored? It might be remotely, you might not realise it could even be outside the EU, or it could be held in email inboxes, filing cabinets or local hard drives. Is it structured in a database, or is it harder to locate?
When?
This is time-based; ask yourself when you or your business collects data, how long you can hold it for, and the time constraints you must work to when dealing with data-related requests.
Why?
Why do you hold the data you do? For some, this will be to pay employees and contractors. It will be for marketing, and others, it will be to comply with the law. It may even be a mixed answer.
The answers to all these questions will help you to establish HOW to build and maintain a structured and compliant data inventory, and I can help.
As a Certified Data Protection Officer, I help organisations of every size and scope achieve compliance, improve efficiency, and enjoy the many other benefits of a good data inventory practice. These questions inform important aspects of my work with them.
If you would like to learn more, book a quick chat here.
It is a sobering thought that every one of us has a long, intricate trail of data in the wider world.
Personal data, including email addresses, names, where we live, our families, friends, employment records, IP addresses… Each trail is specific to us; its contents can identify us.
However, another trail running parallel to the first with much more sensitive data that, in the wrong hands, could be used to target us, such as our medical histories, sexuality and our gender, race and religion.
-All that, and we haven’t even started to mention Social Media profiles…
Cutting through the confusion
Information about your clients, suppliers, employees and other associates or stakeholders is your responsibility. Knowing exactly what that data is, where it is held (off-site, in the cloud or the filing cabinet, for example,) and the lengths of time you are obliged to keep it for are all important legal requirements.
If you run a business, you will handle data just like that listed above and doing so is more of a responsibility than ever before.
It’s a worthwhile task to undertake, for legal compliance obviously, but for other reasons too:
Upholding people’s rights
Acting fast to address issues such as data breaches and cybercrime
Plan more focused, effective marketing strategies
Your customer relationships and reputation will lift you above the competition
You get a secure, organised and data-accurate business
Those are just some of the benefits of handling data correctly, but how on earth do you get to that point?
Don’t panic! Help is out there
If you are confused or concerned by issues surrounding the data you hold, don’t worry. You are not the first and are certainly not alone in feeling that way. The first step, the only step that matters at the beginning of that journey towards data handling compliance and peace of mind, is this-
Establishing exactly what data you hold
I can’t stress this enough, every data audit and every conversation with a GDPR specialist such as myself begins with a long, careful look at exactly what data you handle. It is THE most important job on day one…
We can then follow the legal framework and guidelines to ensure it is handled safely and correctly.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is another valuable resource offering the help, and support businesses need to ensure data privacy. Their website provides simple-to-understand guides about data protection aimed at SMEs and even checklists and self-assessment tools such as this one.
If your business handles personal data, you should already be familiar with the ICO and the annual data protection fee unless exempt. You can check if the fee applies to you here.
The ICO is a supervisory body that goes the extra mile to offer help and advice to individuals and organisations.
Lastly, but by no means least, there is me! As a certified Data Protection Officer, I can offer the help and support you need to ensure you ‘know your data’ and handle it perfectly.
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