With just two months to go before the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IT and digital teams are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that companies comply.
The new regime will oblige e-commerce firms, marketing agencies or any business that holds personal data to ensure it is protected and processed in the right way.
It is hard enough for any business, but those with legacy systems may face particular problems and have to adapt their systems to meet the rules.
Firstly, let’s look at what the rules say. GDPR, which comes into force on 25th May 2018, means organisations have a duty to protect personal data, while individuals can request to see any data held on them and demand that it be deleted. Therefore businesses need to understand what personal data they hold, how they would comply with such requests and delete data where required. Herein lies the problem.
Adrian Williamson, a former software development manager and engineer who is now an expert on R&D tax credits with Jumpstart, explains: “There are genuine challenges as to how you find data in legacy systems, and understand where it has gone. Even if you can find it, more than likely you will have back-up systems, and some info may have found its way into your marketing team.
“Deleting data is not as easy as it sounds, either – as we have seen from Google’s experience following the EU court ruling which gave individuals a ‘right to be forgotten’. There are technical issues in getting legacy systems to ‘forget’ people and legal issues relating to how company records show that personal data has been deleted.
“Finally whoever is in charge of responding to requests to access data, you will have to have a system in place to support them and make sure there are access capabilities locked into appropriate levels of IT security.
“R&D tax credits can help offset the expense involved in complying with GDPR, however you need to use an adviser who understands both the technical issues and the tax rules to be sure that your claim is eligible.”
Do you recognise any of these situations?
Or have a project that may fit the bill? If so, speak to a specialist adviser as interpreting the rules correctly and using the right terminology is crucial to success with any claim.
Adrian Williamson has over 30 years’ experience as a software engineer. He is now an expert on R&D tax credits, advising clients in web and app development, third party integration, IT infrastructure, SEO and cloud technology.
To book a free consultation with Adrian, contact the Jumpstart team on 0330 134 5730 or email helpinghand@jumpstartuk.co.uk
