There’s a new acronym on the block. But unlike LOL (laugh out loud) or TTYL (talk to you later), the new GDPR can cause some business owners to have a minor freak out moment.

But don’t worry! VisionAmp Marketing has you covered. Check out what GDPR is, how it applies to your business, and how VisionAmp is making the transition easier.

WHAT IS GDPR?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. And once GDPR goes into effect on May 25th, it will be the strictest set of data protection regulations in the world. The goal of these new regulations is to provide citizens and residents of the European Union (EU) more protection over their personal information and data that they give to companies. You see, the regulations that were on the books were old and outdated. They were written before everyone had a smartphone or exchanged personal data over the internet on websites like Facebook. The EU knew that it was time to update their policies to reflect the times and technology in order to better protect the data of their citizens.

Now, I bet you’re thinking to yourself, “I live in the United States. How does this affect me?”. You are not alone. This is the big question surrounding GDPR and the main reason it’s been in the news recently. You see, the internet has become an extremely powerful tool for business owners all over the world. People who may never meet each other in person are now able to connect and conduct business through websites, apps, email, and social media. And since the GDPR protects the citizens of the EU, anyone from any country who collects or processes data of an EU citizen is now required to adhere to the new regulations or risk being fined.

While most small businesses don’t have to worry about the EU coming after them, these new regulations are something to think about seriously. There have also been talks in the news that the U.S. is seeing what the European Union is doing and may soon follow suit in regards to better protecting the data and privacy of U.S. citizens. Therefore, by getting on the road to becoming compliant now, your business will be more prepared. 

HOW DO I BECOME COMPLIANT WITH GDPR?
Figuring out how to become compliant is where the headaches begin for most business owners. They know they need to do this, and they want to do this, but most don’t know where to start to become compliant. While you may need to do a little research on your own, becoming compliant is not as difficult as it may seem.

In order to become compliant, businesses or anyone who collects or processes data of EU citizens must be able to:

• Provide consumers with all personal data that has been collected on request.
• Erase consumer data on request.
• Allow consumers an easy way to modify personal data.
• Make sure they are clear with how each consumer’s personal data is used and offer a way for consumers to allocate how the personal data is used. In other words, you must gain consent for the different methods you will use a consumer’s personal data.

While there are other regulations to follow, these are the main regulations.

WHAT IS VISIONAMP DOING TO PREPARE YOUR WEBSITE?
We strive each day to stay on top of what is happening in the ever-changing world of technology in order to provide our customers with the best marketing and web services. While GDPR won’t affect most of our customer base, there are a few changes we have started making on our end. For no fee to you, we are changing website forms with clearer opt-out options and privacy policies to be compliant with GDPR. We will continue doing this for all sites that collect personal data. Please know we have hundreds of websites to update, so we have started on e-commerce sites first. For clients who use our marketing services, no big changes will necessarily be needed. Most third-party services such as Facebook and MailChimp have already been taking the needed steps to become compliant.

While we are still in the learning phase, we do want our clients to know that we are educating ourselves and working hard to make the necessary changes to your website and within your digital marketing. If for any reason you would like to opt-out of being compliant with GDPR, please give us a call at (870) 580-0909.