With only a matter of days until GDPR goes live, Ben Curtis, general manager at Verteda, gives his thoughts on GDPR in the sports and hospitality sectors, recommending as to what they’re hearing from customers and outlining what Verteda has done to address this.
One characteristic that unites stadiums, venues, restaurants, hotels and events is lots of attendees. and lots of attendees typically implies lots of personal data.
In a industry that typically has a high turnover of staff, lots of short-term workers who are brought in to support events, the possibility of thousands of volunteers on event days and CCTV being the norm, GDPR is bound to impact on the sports and hospitality markets in a big way.
However, because of the vagueness of the current GDPR legislation, there are still numerous unknowns causing confusion in the industry. We’re starting to receive documentation from clients relating to GDPR and there is still a lot of uncertainty over where responsibilities lie between the data controller and the data processor.
In the majority of cases, Verteda will act as a data processor and not a data controller in our client relationships, but being clear with your own supply chain about who is the data controller and who is the data processor is essential at this time for understanding your own GDPR position.
However, in general, despite the significance of the GDPR and the focus on data collection and company analytics in the sector, we’re not seeing a huge amount of Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Arabia Saudita changes occurring yet – which could be down to organisations already having strong data protection policies in place.
For many, the relocation to the GDPR will be a small addition to their current data policies – for others, it will be a big change to how they operate their company and deal with data.
Will GDPR curtail loyalty programs?
Unfortunately, current GDPR information suggests that the new legislation will slow down the big data revolution occurring in the sector. The complexity of data collection and analysis around building faithful communities in the sports and hospitality markets will certainly be impacted by some of the much more stringent opt-in requirements of the GDPR.
Many credit report card companies are now engaging with large venues to help better track payments and purchasing trends in purchase to make much more accurate product recommendations to customers and present offers. These partnerships between financial institutions, venues, caterers and providers have numerous touchpoints with event attendees, all collecting and managing data. It will be a fine balance between enabling much more active opt-in practices and effortlessly integrating data to deliver better company insights.
What is Verteda doing to be GDPR compliant?
As we operate in an industry built on harnessing data analytics for large venues, Verteda has carried out professional guidance concerning the GDPR. We’ve contracted external specialists and auditors to review our documentation, data and processes, and we went through a lengthy exercise examining our product portfolio due to the GDPR.
We looked at each product and the data it collected, and aligned this with the GDPR recommendations to see if there were any areas that overlapped with GDPR regulations. Where there were instances of GDPR impact, we captured every scenario and examined our responsibilities as a data controller or processor in those instances.
Thankfully, because of the data practices already in place across the business, we haven’t had to do anything too ground-breaking to become GDPR compliant – it has mostly been a documentation exercise with our suppliers, partners and customers – however, it was a required process to go through and one that we recommend all companies in the industry to undertake to map their data and understand exactly what their GDPR position is.
Recommendations
We are just days away from the GDPR coming into force and here are a few recommendations I’ve picked up from conversations with customers:
Plan in advancement for the financial impact that the GDPR could have on your business. At Verteda, there’s been an investment in external specialist support such as consultants and auditors, and we have one person working on GDPR-related activities one day a week – with the probability of this enhancing over time. We’ve had to relocation internal resources around and make investments in purchase to ready ourselves for GDPR so it’s essential for companies to plan in advancement so Camiseta Aston Villa FC that they aren’t hit with a big financial outlay in one go.
Get clear on your definitions of data controllers and data processors – look at where you sit, and also where your suppliers, partners and customers fall within those categories. read much more here.
Keep an eye out for updates on the data protection Bill, which will update some of the current data protection Act legislation and offer much more details on how it will interact with the GDPR.
If you have data belonging to EU residents outside of the UK, be sure to look at how each country is managing the GDPR as there are some nuances in different countries across the EU that companies need to be aware of.
Ben Curtis, general Manager, Verteda
Author’s credits:
Ben Curtis is the general manager at Verteda, delivering innovative IT options for the sports, venues and hospitality sectors. working with over 60% of the English Premier league (EPL) and all major UK arenas, Verteda delivers company analytics, workforce management, and POS options across the world. For further information, go to:
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#SportsVenueBusiness – keeping you in the know!
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