Speaker Blog by David Chalmers, Senior Marketing Director at Cvent
Personal data is, without a doubt, one of the most prized resources in today’s world. According to The Economist, personal data has a place even ahead of oil, because of the way it helps organisations “communicate with their customers and how it positively impacts customer experience”.
The internet and cloud technology has created ingenious ways to track data through the websites we visit, the calls we make, and even the photos we take. The data collated from all these different sources are then recorded, analysed and measured, and stored for later use whenever needed.
The value attributed to personal data has also made it vulnerable to theft and misuse. Consumers are increasingly becoming paranoid as to whose hands their personal information may land up in, because of which they are demanding to know how companies use and store their personal data. All in all, consumers are not convinced whether their data is being used responsibly and if companies are taking enough measures to protect it.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the result of four years of work by the European Union to bring data protection legislation in line with the new, previously unforeseen ways that data is now used. This new legislation gives people more say over what companies can and cannot do with their data and introduces severe fines for non-compliance and breaches.
This means tough times for businesses ahead as they must now explain and obtain consent from new and existing prospects and customers to store their data within CRM and other systems.
At Cvent we’re already on track to becoming GDPR compliant and want to advise our industry partners on how to become compliant too.
Check out David’s speaker session at CHS18 and if getting ready for GDPR is a top priority for you, visit Cvent on Stand A01 who will be ready to answer any questions on your events or event data.