Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"
Privacy law is not allowing us to do this",
"We're not allowed to do that". But what can proper personal data management, protection and handling actually do for you... Create business!
On our many encounters we regularly have lively discussions with professionals of all backgrounds and all levels, not surprisingly quite often on our favourite subject, personal data protection and management.
Most feedback we receive however, is related to the repressive perception of data protection law, and how it does not align with the commercial goals and roadmap of the organisation, more likely to limit rather than to offer opportunities.
What we try to explain in such cases, is that the law on the one hand
forbids and regulates, but on the other hand
enables and guides.
The law
forbids that you do anything illegal with the data and use it in a way that can harm the individual identified by the data. It
regulates the way that the individual can keep control over his property, i.e. his personal data, and what purposes this data can be used for.
On the other hand, the law creates the framework that
allows you to handle personal data and
guides both yourself and the data subjects on how to interact in an official and transparent way. You stay in full control but if you mess up, the law is there to enable the individual data subject to exercise his rights.
The basis of the law is the relationship between you and the data subject.
- It needs to be a live relationship.
- Both parties need to be in control.
- New relationships with other parties only with permission and knowledge of the data subject.
- The relationship needs to be transparent.
- Once the relationship ends, the data is no longer of any use and should not be used anymore.
The benefits are many:
As a company, you have many individuals with whom you regularly interact and who support you fully. You do not waste time on stale or dead relationships and do not waste resources on it. Your investment in personal data yields the maximum return. You send out communications to people who want to hear from you and will hear what you have to say.
As an individual, you know which companies you are working with and what they are doing with your information. Once you decide to move on, you know your personal data is not retained and can never be abused.
The downsides of not following this guidance:
As a company, your databases, cupboards and backup tapes are clogged down with stale information of people whom you once worked with but might never work with again. The information of 'live' relationships is hidden and lost in the noise of 'stale' data.
As an individual, your data is lingering forever and you have no control over what will happen with it. Will it end up in the company's archive forever, or in a hacker's database, or somewhere on a hard disk on eBay?
In our personal data workshops, we help every department within organisations maximize the full potential of handling personal data, exploring new potential and advising on ways of using the personal data, within the limits and spirit of the several international data protection legislations. The combination of the detailed knowledge and experience of our team in all related disciplines (data protection law, CRM, marketing, online presence, social networking) together with the knowledge, experience and market savvy of your team, creates novel and powerful new applications with many quick wins and long term benefits.
More information on our Personal Data Workshops and other services can be found
here.