The General Data Protection Regulation - necessary evil or new opportunities?

On 25 May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulation comes into force and we need to start acting now. More and more is in the press and the questions are about what we need to do, what will it cost? What happens if we don't act? These are obviously relevant questions and need to be answered, but there is another aspect that should be discussed:

What can the new GDPR do for us?

The Regulation forces us to review all processes that involve any form of personal data. This in turn means that we will have to adapt several of these processes to meet the new requirements.
We will also need to review our data and classify it in order to be able to identify our personal data in the future. Two heavy jobs that need to be done - but why not take the opportunity to look at how we can streamline, automate and classify our data in other ways that add value to us?
While you're analysing your data, why not make other changes that lead to streamlined processes, reduced administration costs and perhaps new insights about your customers?
Office 365 offers an excellent platform for digitisation and automation. Many of our customers have taken the plunge into Office 365 already, but now it's time to take the next one.

Questions to ask

- Can we automate some of our manual processes?
- Can we classify our data in other ways that benefit us in other contexts?
- Can we take the opportunity to digitise other data at the same time?
- Can we identify other opportunities?
If Gartner is to be believed, digitisation is the way to go. Stop wasting money on business systems - digitise instead!

Let's be specific. Holidays and absences must be managed. Often this involves several steps that have to be carried out manually:

- Holiday request initiated
- Approval from manager
- Update of holiday list
- Notification to payroll office

- Booked in calendar
- Create absence message

Common to these steps is that the same data is processed in all steps. Many companies handle the steps separately and in many cases manually.
When we digitize our environment, new opportunities open up. We can reuse the same data in different contexts.
Using Office 365 flow, these steps can be minimized from six to two - Request and Approval.
Last but not least, being GDPR ready is a stamp of quality that you will be able to use in many contexts - not least as a competitive tool.