A Glimpse Into What Compliance Looks Like for Businesses

It’s easy to see all the reasons why you should make data regulations and compliance a priority. After all, you want to ensure you don’t violate the trust and security of your customers, as well as the integrity of your operations. If you make even one mistake, it could spell legal trouble for your business, as well as financial losses and loss of reputation.

Today, we’re covering what it looks like for a business to be in compliance with data protection laws and regulations. Keep in mind: this is a broad look at these ideas, not a deep dive into any one particular regulation. You’ll find that most regulations have similar elements to them, so you should learn a thing or two regardless of industry.

The Basics of Compliance

Depending on the industry, the rules for data protection change, but they all have certain elements in common.

For example, one common thread is transparency, which dictates that people have a right to know what data you collect, why you collect it, and who you might share it with. Asking for permission, i.e. getting consent from your customers, is also crucial to maintain trust. You should never collect or share personal data without permission, and if customers want you to delete their data, you should oblige.

Another key factor is data minimization. Sure, you could collect a lot of data, but that doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes it’s better to collect less data, particularly because it can be costly to secure vast amounts of data. But more importantly, collecting more means you have a greater surface to protect, which means there are more opportunities for bad things to happen to your network.

Finally, you must have individual rights for your customers, which include the ability to access, update, or delete their personal data. You want to have clear processes for handling these requests in an efficient manner. 

While data compliance is of course much more than these three elements, they are good places to start.

More Steps for Data Compliance

The biggest thing you should keep in mind is that you want to be proactive with your data compliance. First, be sure you know what data you have that must be protected, as well as why you need it and how you store it. Knowing all this will help you better protect the data from unnecessary risks. You can also compound these measures by optimizing for security with tools like encryption, strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, and endpoint protection.

Training your team also goes a long way, as your employees actively use data to perform their jobs day in and day out. Make sure they’re aware of your business’ policies and best practices, and follow up every so often to ensure you’re all on the same page. Regulations change, so be sure to keep everyone in the know when they do.

Don’t Let Compliance Cause You Headaches

If you’re worried about compliance, good; that means you’re taking it seriously.

But you don’t have to worry if you have KB Technologies by your side. We’ll work with your business to optimize for compliance. Learn more by calling us at (954) 834-2800 today.