The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced to protect the privacy of consumers and professionals. Not entirely unnecessary in these digital times where personal data can be shared globally in no time. Your customer service must also comply with the new regulations. This is a challenging subject for many organisations as customer service daily processes and updates personal data.
Download the GDPR Checker and ensure your customer service is fully prepared for the new GDPR legislation.
Download the GDPR CheckerIn brief, the three most important rights of consumers, customers, and other relations that your customer service needs to consider from 25 May 2018.
1. Right to explicit consent
From 25 May, individuals have the right to NOT allow companies to store their personal data. As an organisation, it will even be mandatory to request explicit consent regarding the storage of data from the person contacting you. The GDPR rule states that organisations cannot store personal data without declaration. If you, as an organisation, wish to store data, you must, besides having a secure data environment, also be able to justify how long and for what purposes the data is stored.
What does this mean in practice?
You must explicitly request permission to store a customer's data at every contact. This consent must be stored, either in writing or orally, and be available for display at any moment. When asking for consent, you can, for instance, state the reason as using 'customer data to provide better service.'
2. Right to object
Individuals may also refuse the storage of personal information unless you can truly demonstrate that storing data is necessary to provide the service correctly, for instance.
What does this mean in practice?
Imagine: As an organisation, your main activities consist of carrying out repairs. For this reason, you must store and keep the relevant person's NAW-gegevens (name, address, city) in a system. Or: A customer wants to take advantage of a discount tied to a particular location or only possible with a minimum income. As customer service, it's important to consider what information you want from the customer. The more information you have, the more securely you must handle their data. Moreover, the barrier becomes higher, and there's a chance a potential customer will back out and object. Part of this right also includes: the right to rectification and/or erasure. When information is no longer correct, you are required as an organisation to immediately adjust or remove it.
3. Right to transparency
A lot of personal data is also automatically stored today via websites with, among other things, cookies, or the recently controversial Facebook pixel. From 25 May onwards, organisations must clearly state on their website which cookie(s) or (Facebook) pixel will be used for what purpose. Visitors should be able to give consent per application. Moreover, customers must explicitly confirm on the website that they accept further communication from you once they, for example, download a brochure. Previously, this didn't need to be explicitly mentioned or checked, and a clause in the terms and conditions sufficed.
What does this mean in practice?
Organisations will need to devise a way that – preferably at a glance – makes it clear to the visitor which information will be linked to other platforms and websites. The terms and conditions, cookies, disclaimer, and privacy statement must also be GDPR-compliant. This is quite a technical operation, for which there are already several web tools available. Therefore, make sure to consult with a lawyer specialised in ICT law. What's most crucial is that you have all your contact information accurate and ready. Every relationship that has had contact with you has the right to request this data and review all contact moments. If you cannot clearly provide this information, you risk a fine.
ContactCare makes GDPR compliance easier
In summary, a lot is about to change regarding the storage of personal data. For consumers, but also for organisations. This means that customer contact systems need to be restructured to easily delete – or modify (and export) – partial data. Customer service employees also need to learn how to properly request permission for data storage. ContactCare has been specialised for years in smart storage, categorisation, and application of customer data and journeys. Our Intelligence Tools also make the transition to GDPR much smoother.
