Tag: GDPR

Elevate Data Protection: Deploy a GDPR-Compliant CRM for Your CPA Firm

The rapid digital transformation, data has become the lifeblood of any business. For the CPA firms,  who need to deal with sensitive financial information, maintaining data security is quite challenging. The biggest responsibility is safeguarding their clients’ data. With the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), CPA firms can re-evaluate their data management practices from the core. In this context, a GDPR-compliant CRM Software  plays a pivotal role, ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations and fortifying the protection of valuable data on a day-to-day basis.

The Significance of GDPR in the Accounting Industry

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enforced in 2018, marked a paradigm shift in data protection laws. Its primary objective is to empower individuals with control over their personal data while imposing stringent regulations on businesses that handle this information. For accountants, this means handling financial data with utmost care and ensuring GDPR compliance to avoid severe penalties and data loss.

CRM Software has long been a staple in accounting tasks. An all-in-one CRM Software helps  Accounts professionals in managing client relationships, tracking interactions, and streamlining communication alongside keeping client data 100% safe. With the arrival of GDPR, the role of CRM software has evolved dramatically. Here’s how the GDPR-compliant platform of ConvergeHub can assist CPA firms to maintain data protection on a day-to-day basis while  automating key accounting tasks across multiple touchpoints.

 1. Data Encryption and Security Measures 

GDPR mandates the implementation of robust security measures to protect personal data. ConvergeHub is featured with advanced encryption techniques, ensuring that sensitive information is stored securely and transmitted safely.

Over the time, financial sectors including CPA firms have managed accounting tasks with piles of paper. When the Cloud technology steps in, manual data is being transported there. This runs the risk of data breach. However, a GDPR-compliant system will encrypt data  and protect it from unauthorized access. 

    2. Consent Management 

Under GDPR, individuals must provide explicit consent for their data to be processed. ConvergeHub, being equipped with GDPR compliance features allow accountants to manage consent effectively. They can record and track consent status, ensuring that client data is processed only with the necessary permissions, thereby mitigating the risk of non-compliance.

    3. Data Minimization and Storage Limitation 

One of the core principles of GDPR is data minimization, which means collecting only required data  for the intended purpose. CRM tools enable accountants to define and limit the scope of data collected, ensuring that irrelevant or excessive information is not stored. Additionally, these tools facilitate storage limitation, enabling automatic deletion of data once it has served its purpose, aligning with GDPR requirements.

    4. Right to Access and Data Portability 

GDPR grants individuals the right to access their personal data and request its portability to another service provider. CRM tools simplify the process of fulfilling these requests. Accountants can easily retrieve and provide clients with their data, demonstrating compliance with GDPR regulations. This transparency fosters trust between accountants and their clients.

    5. Accountability and Documentation 

Accountability is a fundamental aspect of GDPR, requiring businesses to demonstrate compliance with the regulation. GDPR-compliant CRM tools assist accountants in maintaining detailed records of data processing activities. This documentation serves as evidence of compliance, ensuring that accountants can prove their adherence to GDPR standards if required.

    6. Automated Data Auditing and Monitoring 

Regular data audits and monitoring are crucial for identifying and addressing potential risks promptly. GDPR-compliant CRM tools offer automated auditing features, allowing accountants to track data access, modifications, and user activities. By promptly identifying any irregularities, accountants can take immediate action, thereby enhancing data security and compliance.

Leverage the ConvergeHub Advantage

CRM software like ConvergeHub that comply with GDPR have become essential assets for accountants. The platform is equipped with the necessary tools that allows accountancy firms to effectively handle the intricacies of GDPR, ensuring the security of sensitive financial information in their daily operations. With the digital landscape constantly evolving, accountants armed with strong CRM solutions not only secure their clients’ data but also cultivate trust, accountability, and professionalism within the accounting domain. Embracing GDPR-compliant CRM tools enables accountants to meet legal requirements while upholding the integrity of their profession, safeguarding data integrity one step at a time.

How do GDPR principles apply for best small and medium business CRM software data management?

For not only best small and medium business CRM software data management, the European Union’s latest GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) constitutes a paradigm shift in the consumer ownership of all Customer Relationship Management software data. The GDPR principles apply to any business that the CRM company has with users living in Europe, and so GDPR norms will affect CRM organizations globally. There are also GDPR guidelines that cover the principle for the flow of information of consumer data out of the European Union.

Not only for best small and medium business CRM software data management, the European Union’s latest GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) constitutes a paradigm shift in the consumer ownership of all Customer Relationship Management software data.

The GDPR principles transfer the authorization and ownership to use the data frequently processed by CRM platforms, which includes:

  • The customer’s names
  • The customer’s Social Security Numbers
  • Income
  • Addresses
  • Medical information
  • Purchasing histories and others

The GDPR principles also apply to the data normally used for tracking the users across websites, which includes browser information and IP addresses of the visitors.

Personal information protection is the foundation of trust, which is the basic right of man and the backbone of the digital economy. Click To Tweet

All easy to use CRM enterprises even bear a responsibility to provide notice to all the affected parties of a CRM data breach, that too within 72 hours.  Since failure to abide by this deadline could lead to a penalty of up to €20 million or 4% of the company’s revenue.

Moreover, online lead management software vendors also need to appoint a Data Protection Officer to supervise CRM data management in their organizations.

The GDPR principles apply to any business that the CRM company has with users living in Europe, and so GDPR norms will affect CRM organizations globally. There are also GDPR guidelines that cover the principle for the flow of information of consumer data out of the European Union.

Based on the GDPR protocols any European Union’s citizen can now make several requests to a customer information database software development enterprise like:

  • Delete all or some of his or her data.
  • Enquire how his or her data is being used.
  • Enquire how a decision that used his or her data was made?

Some of the important ways this GDPR principle affected the best small business CRM data management include:

  • All CRM companies must audit their CRM database archiving systems to find where the data is being stored.
  • All CRM companies must assess their partners that provide leads and process the CRM data for services like analytics.
  • All CRM companies must set up convenient ways to automate CRM data across all partner services and internal systems as and when requested.
  • It is essential to evaluate analytics services and AI used to analyze easy to use CRM data and to make decisions so that the company can answer user requests as per GDPR norms in simple language.
  • When a breach occurs, CRM companies need to build a workflow process to speedily inform the affected users of the data infringement.

GDPR Checklist

 

GDPR Data Protection Officer’s Role and Responsibilities

As the General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect this 25th of May 2018, it has set forth a number of prerequisites for CRM enterprises that store and process personal data of citizens living in EU. One such requirement (as per Article 37), is that organizations will need to appoint someone to take on the GDPR Data Protection Officer’s role.

Although there is no specific qualification required for this position, however, GDPR criteria state that the DPO must have “expert knowledge of data protection law and practices.”

Here is a list of the DPO’s responsibilities as it is mentioned in the GDPR:

  • Keep the controllers informed of the obligations and responsibilities pertaining to data protection.
  • Communicate with data subjects about the rights pertaining to use and handling of their data.
  • Counsel the company as to how data protection rules should be applied and interpreted in the organization.
  • Create and maintain a register of the organization’s processing operations.
  • Initiate communication with EU of any intended processing operation that could breach the data protection rights of its citizens.
  • Ensure that the company maintains ongoing data protection compliance.
  • Respond to any applicable data protection related complains or questions.
  • Act as the point of contact for the European Data Protection Supervisor and assist requests for investigations, inspections and so on.
  • Inform the company of any failure to comply with applicable data protection rules.

Conclusion

Therefore, with the onset of GDPR principles CRM vendors like ConvergeHub with strong data protection initiatives already in place, will most often than not find that few significant changes are required at the IT level although some changes may be required pertaining to workflow and documentation requirements.

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However, adhering to the GDPR principles is likely to be the biggest challenge of the decade for many CRM companies that will face a major hurdle for establishing an initial state of compliance, as CRM is a platform that owns a vast repository of data.

Hence, to figure out what data the organization actually owns, how the data is used, where the data is stored and what security measures are in place is surely a monumental task for less organized CRM enterprises in 2018.