New research from Relay42 identifies profound challenges for the financial services industry regarding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) updates — which will be effective exactly a year from today, 25th May 2018. The research shows that 96 per cent of C-level finance marketers (CMOs) believe that GDPR is the responsibility of their IT counterparts, only 4 per cent say marketing plays a role in ensuring compliance
The research, commissioned by Relay42 and carried out by Censuswide, surveyed CMOs across the financial services sector in the UK.
Despite claiming to be ready for compliance, only 18 per cent of the CMOs are able to identify origins of data, and only a quarter of the marketing executives are fully confident that they are able to edit, change, or delete all data relating to customer data after a ‘Right to be Forgotten’ request has been filed. The survey reveals a risk for financial services providers as this indicates that many CMOs are not ready for the practical implications of GDPR.
In addition, only 2 per cent of CMOs are currently able to access permissions for customer applications, yet over half of respondents received a data export to their computer or an unmonitored device in the last year. This lack of control over customer data opens up risk of breaching the 2018 GDPR updates.
A supplementary whitepaper, created in collaboration with Capgemini, entitled GDPR for Financial Services Marketing: How to translate data regulation into customer opportunity, says that the momentum generated by GDPR can be used by financial services firms as an opportunity to build up long-term relationships with their customers based on trust and transparency.
Ron Tolido, global CTO, insights and data global practice at Capgemini says, ‘GDPR offers companies a unique chance to rework their customer strategy, changing a reactive stance into a proactive one. It means re-engaging in a real-time dialogue with their customers, based on genuine transparency and openness, secure personal data, free choice and personalisation.
‘This is an approach that is best enabled by the appropriate use of technology – using a nuanced, robust data management platform.’
Tomas Salfischberger, CEO of Relay42, says, ‘My message to CMOs is that they play an important role in the GDPR discussion; it is essential that they join forces with their legal and IT departments. Empowering consumers to take control of their data trails is fully aligned with an organisation’s ambition to offer the ultimate customer experience to consumers.
‘The right data management solution, with a flexible consent management tooling and inbuilt ‘privacy by design’ architecture, is instrumental for attaining a high level of customer intimacy and loyalty.’
Further reading on GDPR
