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If your company is pitching for new business with bigger clients, the likelihood is that they will expect you to undergo a more rigorous screening process before they decide to do business with you. And going forward, they will want to know if you have ticked the data compliance box – if you have not, the likelihood is that they will not want to do business with you and your company will be out of the running.
Disadvantages of data compliance
However, by doing things right, your company will necessarily have to jump through hoops which will incur costs and use up valuable time and resources. If you have competitors who are less concerned about compliance than you, you may lose out because they will have the advantage of flexibility and speed, which in the short-term could make them more desirable partners.
Advantages of data compliance
In our experience, the advantages of being compliant will typically outweigh the disadvantages within 18 months. So if you are pitching for clients you would like to have a longer-term relationship with, compliance is an absolute necessity.
Data compliance and data protection prove that your company is ethical and is a positive way of showing potential clients that you are a safe company to do business with.
Good housekeeping
In order to become data compliant, you have to document and map your processes. But this can turn out to be a very useful exercise.
Your processes usually develop organically, often on an ‘as and when’ basis, e.g. when you need to hire new staff, but you have not yet written a recruitment process; given the time pressures, it is more likely that you will write the process retrospectively once you have successfully recruited.
Writing formal processes for your company is a form of housekeeping. It is always a good idea to start from scratch and use it as an excuse to think about the way you do things, questioning if they are efficient and effective. If not, this is the ideal time to revise your processes to help the company going forward.
A data compliance review is also an ideal time to get rid of old data you no longer need. We are finding that some of our clients who run law firms are holding on to data that’s 25 years old – just in case it is needed – often on obsolete systems. The new legislation will encourage us to purge this data, streamlining our clients’ systems at the same time as ensuring they are GDPR-ready, giving them the competitive advantage of compliance at the same time as saving valuable space, resources and money.
If you would like to know more about becoming data compliant in advance of GDPR, contact us to arrange an appointment with one of our data protection specialists.
Lumina Technologies have taken the time to understand the requirements of our business and work as our strategic IT partner, enabling us to concentrate on delivering a high quality service to our clients and focus on our growth strategy. They have delivered a 100% cloud solution to our business with no underlying infrastructure costs or maintenance, which gives us scalability for our planned growth. It also means our business critical applications and data are securely accessible from virtually all our user devices. Lumina’s professional approach and strategic expertise is highly valued and their management of our IT – based on their in-depth knowledge, leaves us confident that our systems are available 24×7.
Luke Harrison
Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
Robin Illingworth
Managing Partner, Adams & Remers LLP
The quality of IT Support provided by Lumina Technology is of the highest standard and is complemented by effective client liaison with impressive response times. Trap Oil Group plc has no hesitation in recommending Lumina as a dedicated and specialist group of IT professionals.
Martin David
Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
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Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
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Chief Executive Officer, Wentworth Resources PLC
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Lambert Energy Advisory
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Connect Dacorum
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Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
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Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
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Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
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Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
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COO, Perrett Laver Limited
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Managing Director, Society Limited
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Joe Menendez
CEO, The Vita Group
We worked with Lumina on a GDPR Audit. Richard was knowledgeable and professional throughout, and did the best he could to bring a dry topic to life through lots of real life examples and analogies. We were so impressed with the service Lumina provided and the value we got from partnering with them on this project – we couldn’t recommend them enough.
Holly Cottingham, Vintec Laboratories
We’ve been so well supported by Paige and the Lumina team. They’ve been highly professional, very responsive, friendly, supportive. It’s really validated the decision to engage an IT partner, and we’re glad it’s with Lumina.
Bruce Storey
Chief Operating Officer, Estu Global Ltd
