GDPR Compliance

GDPR compliance is being enforced. The GDPR has already garnered international attention, with similar legislation in the works in countries like China, Japan, India, Brazil, and New Zealand. Attention around the GDPR has been mounting in US. Beyond the United States and the other countries already mentioned, most experts predict that an even wider rollout of consumer data protections is inevitable.

Since GDPR took effect, Google was fined nearly $57 million for processing personal data for advertising purposes without obtaining the required consumer permissions. Google also failed to adequately inform consumers about how their data would be used, nor did it provide enough information about its data consent policies.

The GDPR requires companies doing business in EU member countries to get consumers' consent via an explicit opt-in process before collecting and sharing information about them; to provide a way for consumers to correct, update, and delete the data that companies hold about them; to fully disclose what information is being collected and how it will be used; and to properly notify all parties involved when there is a data breach.

Most companies are certainly pushing to improve their processes by updating older software solutions and processes where parts of their responsibilities are clear, and others are still in a murky world of gray and uncertainty. Many companies are still looking at their obligations under the legislation, trying to determine what is applicable to them and their portions of processing an individual's data.

In a recent survey from the International Association of Privacy Professionals, less than half of respondents said they were fully compliant with the GDPR, and nearly a fifth said they believed full compliance with the GDPR would be impossible.

One of the biggest shortfalls for businesses right now concerns the GDPR provisions requiring a full accounting of all the information organizations hold on consumers upon request within one month.

Companies should simply assume that all aspects of the GDPR apply to them.

Experts and insiders concede that the GDPR has been successful in one key area: Consumers now have more of an interest in what happens with their personal information. GDPR has made it simple for consumers to understand the important details about their data, such as how it is being used, where it is being stored, etc. Because of the GDPR, consumers are asking more questions and reading companies' privacy policies more closely. And that will ultimately lead to greater accountability.

The GDPR has also changed the entire dialogue between companies and customers.

Whether it was a stated goal of the GDPR or an unforeseen consequence, companies are beginning to self-regulate, knowing that regardless of the form, there is increased need to give consumers greater transparency and control over their data.

Because of the penalties and other negative ramifications of ignoring GDPR, companies have to take GDPR seriously with internal programs to organize their data better. Companies need to provide transparency about the data they capture, as well as a mechanism for consumers to choose which information can be captured and how it can be used.

For companies that have come into compliance, the GDPR has resulted in finely tuned databases and distribution lists, and streamlining email communication has made outreach more impactful with higher-than-before engagement rates.

If GDPR compliance is done right, companies will have the ability to create a master record of customer data on one platform.

That master record could contain all of the customer's allowed permissions, revoked permissions, or any changed notification settings, as well as a unified customer profile that combines details about their behaviors, interests, preferences, purchases, and other information from any engagement system or data source.

GDPR continues to require an investment of time and resources, but it is a worthwhile investment.

When all aspects of the GDPR are carried out fully, companies are able to deepen relationships and profitably grow revenue, consumers are able to gain transparency and control over their data, and regulators are able to safeguard commerce and consumer rights.

Galaxy Consulting has over 15 years in helping companies to achieve compliance in different areas, and since GDPR was released, we are helping companies to achieve compliance with GDPR. Please contact us for a free consultation.

Building Blocks for Digital Transformation

69% of decision makers use social media for purchase decisions. 90% of buyers trust peer recommendations. 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research before making a purchase. Companies like Amazon and Alibaba continue to raise the bar, forcing every company to rethink its digital strategy. Companies such as Airbnb and VRBO continue to wreak havoc in the hotel industry and threaten to disintermediate additional industries. Uber and Lyft have transformed the taxi industry using powerful digital tools.

89% of executives say that digitization will disrupt their businesses. Yet less than one-third of these executives believe that their digital strategies are correct, and only 21 % believe that the right people are setting their digital strategies. What is causing this disconnect, and why are so many digital transformation projects underperforming or failing?

Executives are still not sure how best to tackle digital transformation. They do not have the right road map to drive digital transformation success. And they are falling short in one or more of these five building blocks:

CRM

At the core of every successful digital transformation are holistic customer profiles that get leveraged at each step of the transformation. Most companies need to spend more time, money, and effort to create truly holistic customer profiles that integrate transactional, CRM, and third-party data and that integrate both offline and online customer information using identity resolution tools. 

The shortfall is not the technology component: Most CRM software vendors have the tools, including artificial intelligence (AI) and process automation tools, to create these profiles. The shortfall is in leveraging a structured business process to create these profiles, i.e., what information really needs to be collected and to keep these profiles clean and useful over time.

Data and analytics

Data-driven decision making has become a requirement for effective digital transformation. Successful companies perpetually data-mine their holistic customer profiles to gain customer insights. They also leverage data and analytics processes and tools to enhance customer profiling and segmentation, to achieve insights into customer life cycles and journey maps, to target lead scoring and routing, to achieve better forecasting and cross-selling, to model customer behaviors for more effective marketing campaigns, and more.

Social Media

Customers expect to be able to communicate with organizations digitally. They expect 24/7 customer support. Social media communities address these requirements by helping to maintain and increase the kind of customer engagement and interaction that drives customer acquisition and retention. 

They provide members with an online, private platform with a corporate URL, accessible from work and available 24/7, helping to drive customer satisfaction. They reinforce product/industry leadership and expertise, which creates long-term competitive advantage. They are a company’s best lead nurturing tool. Most importantly, social media communities allow a company to listen to the voice of the customer, which is a key component of successful digital transformation.

Customer Engagement

Customer engagement, especially cross-channel customer journey mapping, omnichannel management, customer experience management, and customer success programs are very important. Effective customer engagement shortens sales cycles, increases customer spending, lowers customer churn, increases brand awareness, and secures higher customer loyalty and advocacy. 

To achieve these benefits and to secure digital customer engagement, companies increasingly are using videos, content sharing, chatbots with conversational AI, and robotic process automation tools in their digital transformation efforts.

Emerging technologies

The list of emerging technologies is long and growing all the time, and it currently includes these: mobile apps/technology, identity resolution, virtual and augmented reality, AI and machine learning, personalized digital videos, digital portals, wearables, addressable TV, the Internet of Things, and blockchain. 

These digital technologies provide new ways to capture customer knowledge and insight, enhance data integration and dissemination across channels, digitally connect and collaborate with customers, create better products and services, help shorten the sale cycle, drive down operational costs, and stay one step ahead of the competition. A sound digital transformation includes multiple emerging-technology pilots.

Every company’s digital transformation needs to be based on an integrated framework where individual projects connect and feed each other, e.g., leveraging data and analytics as a foundational platform to analyze and provide insights used in social media communities, CRM, and customer engagement; leveraging customer journey mapping and customer experience surveys to feed holistic customer profiles; leveraging emerging technologies like AI in CRM systems to provide next-best-action recommendations for individual clients, and so on.

In other words, an effective digital transformation strategy pulls together all of these components. Successful companies tackle digital transformation by implementing these components in bite-size chunks, supported by a long-term road map that focuses as much on people and process issues as technology.

The result of a successful digital transformation strategy? More satisfied, engaged, and loyal customers who purchase and then advocate for your company’s products and services, which provides the type of sustainable competitive differentiation that companies like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber thrive on. 

Is your company’s digital transformation ready for prime time? If not, please contact us for a free consultation.