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The month of May sees the introduction of a new set of regulations in Europe that will dictate how businesses are able to store and use data and, in particular, personal data of customers. As you can imagine, this will require a demanding focus of activity for salon operators, and the timing really couldn’t be any worse, as it comes into force just as the season really kicks off. There’s been a flurry of seminars on offer, with some companies offering training and information presentations on the subject at what can only be described as jaw-dropping attendance prices. At the other end of the spectrum, there has also been a wide range of freely available seminars all offering an A-Z action plan of what a business needs to do in order to comply with the new regulations.
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Known as GDPR – the acronym for their full title, General Data Protection Regulations – they are detailed in a document which is no less than 88 pages in length, and covers some 99 articles – so, perhaps it’s no wonder the entrepreneurial training guys saw an opportunity to make a few bucks here! The new regulations are essentially an extension of the existing Data Protection legislation, yet are significantly more robust and cater more to the digital aspects of many of our business operations.
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As usual with the introduction of new regulations, “compliance” is the buzzword of the moment and the “threat” of significant fines to be imposed upon anyone found to be non-compliant is causing quite a stir amongst salon operators. But, when one considers the actual size and depth of the regulation text, how can anyone really be confident they are 100% compliant? Even within a large company with the resources to employ the expertise to advise, this will undoubtedly be a challenge over the months ahead. So, from that perspective alone, just imagine how single-site operators will be feeling, not forgetting they represent the largest percentage of our market in the UK.
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Not surprisingly, we are experiencing a sizeable increase in the number of customer enquiries on the topic of GDPR. You may, indeed, wonder why they would come to us for advice on this type of information; but the reality is they do, and I certainly see this as our customers recognising the added value of our customer service offering. Whilst always conveying the need to comply, we are also quick to point out the suggestion that the talk about huge fines is most likely simple scaremongering, and that the enforcing organisation – the Information Commissions Office (ICO) – is unlikely to start handing out fines to small businesses. The more likely approach would be to give guidance on corrective action. So, overall, we simply encourage our customers to read everything that is being issued by the ICO, and then adopt a risk-based approach to meeting their GDPR needs quite simply by identifying their priorities and then tackling them first.
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Specific data that salons hold on customers is, of course, an essential element in the process of ensuring a responsible tanning service is delivered. So, I have to question how reasonable is it that this data is then under restrictions as to how the salon as the data owner can use it for salon marketing purposes.
This is a topic that is unlikely to settle down any time soon, so I will keep you posted; but I will, of course, have to check whether I need you to “opt in” first to receive it!
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Specific data that salons hold on customers is, of course, an essential element in the process of ensuring a responsible tanning service is delivered.
