It’s only 10 days left until GDPR, the European General Data Protection Regulation, goes into effect. Is your organization ready? If you’re shaking your head, you’re not alone. Statistics show that only about 15% of companies expect to be fully compliant by May 25 – and it’s especially challenging for global enterprises.
I had a quick chat with Esther Bergmark, Director of Product Marketing and Senior Product Manager, to talk about the reality of enterprise compliance to GDPR, and how AI-powered CPQ is key to successful data management.
Esther
What challenges do manufacturing companies face with the new regulation?
Esther: According to research, two of the most pressing challenges for companies are data portability and cross-border data transfer.
I would say that this is especially common for global manufacturing enterprises. Companies we work with usually have a big system landscape with separated systems. The lack of integration means detached data, which in turn means it’s hard to keep track of it. On top of this, a lot of the data in the systems is redundant and just taking up space.
These factors combined make it difficult to be GDPR compliant. When a company employs different ERP or CRM systems globally, it is impossible to handle the data in an efficient, smooth way. Usually, the bigger the company is, the harder it will be to comply with GDPR.
How does Industry 4.0 fit into the picture?
Esther: Industry 4.0, or Smart Manufacturing, is the concept of connecting the digital world with the physical. Traditionally, it has been hard for global manufacturers to use their data across platforms. This often results in order errors, long sales cycles and a lengthy time-to-market. With the technologies now available, it is much easier to achieve excellence in this area.
Relating to GDPR, SaaS software brings a lot of advantages. Since you subscribe to the application, the responsibility for compliance lies on the supplier, not you. Simply put, it’s your suppliers’ job to enable you to stay compliant – not yours. SaaS is an effective way to eliminate the cost and risk of data management, if you choose the right supplier. This is important to keep in mind when evaluating SaaS solutions; can they support your organization optimally?
How does Tacton support manufacturing companies in becoming GDPR compliant?
Esther: Because all organizations have different standards for what is considered personal or sensitive data, all applications on our smart manufacturing platform are configurable to support each organization’s specific needs. This gives our customers great flexibility in their data management.
In all Tacton products, it’s possible to classify your entries. Tags make it easy to identify a certain kind of data and simplify the erasure process significantly.
Additionally, once you delete the data from your Tacton application, it will also be deleted from all data bases connected to it. This includes previous versions of the application, so the data will be deleted from there too.
What about American companies? Should they care about being GDPR compliant?
Esther: Definitely. Any company that deals with European citizens in any way must adhere to the GDPR. It should also be noted that we do not know if a similar legislation will be proposed in the United States. Regardless, companies need to be ready.
Are there any additional benefits of investing in CPQ than “just” being compliant?
Esther: Tacton’s smart manufacturing platform is a great tool to build trust. The right to be forgotten is really important for consumers – in their private life, but also in their professional roles! This means that managing data with respect for individuals’ privacy is equally important towards your customers as it is for your employees.
CPQ also makes it a lot easier to maintain data quality. It helps you stay updated on what data you have and hold, and it simplifies the clean-up once you decide to remove some data. This means your internal processes become more efficient, which inevitably reflects towards external stakeholders in anything from marketing communication to product configuration.
Want to learn more about how Tacton supports effective data management? Send an email to Esther at esther.bergmark@tacton.com.