I’m sure over the past few weeks you’ve been receiving tonnes of GDPR emails from companies begging you to stay on their mailing list. Well, there is a good reason for this, and we wanted to tell you a little more about it. This new GDPR came into practice on 25th May 2018 and for us it means that our new website is fully compliant with this and is kitted out with a brand new privacy policy, cookies, and terms of service.
So, here’s all you need to know about GDPR, what it means for small businesses, and how we’re progressing with it here at CJS Roofing.
What is it?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, and this is a law within the EU that ensures data protection and privacy. It’s basically an introduction of new rights for you as a customer that prevents your data from being shared where you don’t want it to. And on the flip side, a new set of rules for businesses that state what they can and can’t do with customer data. So, for example, this is why you have been receiving emails from companies requesting for your agreement to remain on their mailing list, as without it they are no longer entitled to have your data on their files, nor are they able to contact you.
What does GDPR mean for small businesses?
Basically, unless a company is GDPR compliant, they are no longer able to have access to client data. As a small business, you must seek permission from the client first. For example, here at CJS Roofing we collect client data and so it is essential for us to be compliant with GDPR, and as of last month, our website has been updated so that is in keeping with these new regulations. Before we contract their data, the customer must agree to the terms of what it is being used for, who has access to it, and how long for.
You may see that we have a contact page on our website, where new or existing customers can come become acquainted with us. As a result, this means that we have access to some of their data, such as their name, email address or phone number. However, with these new regulations, we would not be able to do anything else with that data, such as adding them to our mailing list, without them consenting to it first as this would be a breach of privacy. Customers also have the opportunity to cancel or withdraw our access to their personal data at any time they want.
How this impacts CJS Roofing
At CJS Roofing, our website is quite important as it’s a key way of getting clients on board with us and spreading the word about what we do as a business. We provide a lot of information on our unique services to try and help new and existing customers find the help they need. We have a break down on each and every one of our serves and why we provide them and what the benefits of them are, as well as monthly blogs where we choose topics that are of interest to our client demographic to educate them more on certain things. It’s also used as a point of contact between us and our clients, because once somebody learns about the services we provide, they are able to get in touch with us via our contact page, where they can either contact us directly or leave an enquiry.
All of the things we’ve mentioned above mean that it is absolutely necessary for our website to be fully GDPR compliant so that we are not in breach of any client data. It helps to ensure that it is looked after and kept entirely private in accordance of the clients wishes, and that we are also working within the new privacy guidelines.
Furthermore, as we mentioned at the start of this blog, we also have fresh and updated terms of service, cookies and a new privacy policy so that we remain in keeping with the new regulations and customers old and new have the ability to consent to use of their data.
We hope this information has been useful for you, and if you have any queries or are interested, please visit our contact page and we will get back to you as soon as we can!
