Since our exit from the EU earlier this year, the UK government have sought to re-evaluate how the current EU ruling is affecting UK business on data protection. Their investigations are concerned with the current UK GDPR process and what really matters to businesses. To address this, they have opened up a public consultation as from the 10th September 2021, which will run until 19th November 2021.
Their justification for the consultation is to gather information to determine what works for businesses. Firstly, this includes looking at what needs to change to improve the barriers around the current UK GDPR process. Secondly, they are looking at tackling five specific areas of interest, so that further developments can be made.
The 5 areas of UK GDPR interest are as follows:
- Reduce barriers for innovation
- Reduce burdens on business and deliver better outcomes
- Boost trade and reduce barriers in how data flows
- Deliver better public services
- Reform the government department – Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
By addressing these areas, the UK could be recognised as a leader in data protection and innovative ideas around GDPR.
This UK GDPR consultation comes at an important moment in time, when the pressure of handling data securely by businesses has never been so crucial. Following the pandemic, many businesses are still encouraging employees to work from home by means of remote home working. Inevitably, this means that accessing data by employees, from settings outside of their office becomes more open to data breaches.
Subsequently, sometimes there are less controls for accessing data securely by the company. In this case, not all businesses have the correct procedures in place to protect customers and their employees. Inevitably, this can create a disastrous outcome for the company’s brand.
For those businesses requiring customer service support, here at WeAnswer we offer something different! Whilst some of our customer service support teams are continuing to work remotely from home, we have carried out a variety of thorough UK GDPR data protection risk assessments to ensure they are working safely. Furthermore, we have put procedures in place to protect customer data whilst employees are at work. This means that the customer data, which we look after, on behalf of companies is used respectfully and in the safest manner, possible.
To find out more about how we can manage your customer service data securely and on behalf of your business, please contact our customer service experts or see our website for more customer service solutions.
Article Resources
- DCMS data reform consultation – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dcms-data-reform-consultation
