The General Data Protection Act is no longer exactly new and is already in place, so all companies that operate with data verification and processing need to prepare —which requires their leaders and managers to know how to fit the GDPR.

This care is indispensable, to the extent that companies that break the rules can be penalized with fines and other legal penalties. A problem that, in addition to harming your cash, can negatively affect your reputation.

For these reasons, we have prepared this content so that you understand how to align your company with the GDPR. So read this article right now and find out what to do to properly comply with the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation!

Establish a Data Protection Officer

One of the most relevant points of the GDPR is the fact that the regulation requires companies that work with data processing to establish a professional on the entire process of information verification and analysis — which ends up creating the figure of the Data Protection Officer.

As its name suggests, the role of this professional is to develop and implement strategies to ensure that the company’s information security policies are adequate. In addition, this director is tasked with contacting the National Data Authority (ANP) and informing them if there are any problems or failures stifling the confidentiality and integrity of the data.

Taking into account the importance of this position, it is easy to conclude that only properly qualified individuals should assume this role.

Implement a data audit

Since the company needs to align with a new reality, it is important that its technicians check all the stored data and systems used for the analysis and processing of information. This care is necessary to ensure that the solutions adopted by the company are efficient enough to ensure the security of the information.

Among all the points that should be evaluated in this data audit, we can cite the following as examples:

  • backup systems;
  • own servers and data centers;  
  • contracted cloud computing and storage services;
  • login history;
  • encryption solutions adopted by the company.

Review your company’s security and data protection policies

Another important step that should be taken by managers who want to know how to fit the GDPR is to be careful to review the company’s security and data protection policies.

The big question is that, as careful as the company is, there are always points that can be improved. So that the verification of the processes practised by the company makes room for the processing of data to become safer and more efficient.

More than just improving practices, it is necessary for the company to get them to employees. This requires the help of the Human Resources team and the implementation of awareness policies about intelligent data governance.

Review the authorization agreements

It is also pertinent for leaders and managers to take into account that the General Data Protection Act confers higher levels of control for individuals over their personal data.

Under the new law, the data holder has the right to know exactly how their information is being used. And if he wants to, he has the autonomy to require the company responsible for data processing to delete all of his information or even that he or she purports that information to other companies.

This new reality requires that the contract models used by the company be updated to meet the requirements created by the GDPR.

Finally, it is worth noting that, due to the large volume of data that companies need to deal with, entrusting their control and monitoring only to employees is unfeasible. In this context, solutions in process automation and machine learning have the potential to improve data processing, making the process more agile and secure. In this way, making use of these technologies tends to be the smartest option.