On May 25th, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. These new laws will have an immediate effect on companies worldwide and how they store the information of EU residents. Despite it being a law put into place by the European Union companies globally will now have to obtain consent to collect and store data. 

What has happened since GDPR has been implemented? 

The introduction of GDPR has caused much debate, it has not only brought us a new bedtime story to listen to –

but it also caused an immediate impact. Within forty-eight minutes of GDPR coming into force complaints had been received against Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Google. 

These complaints argue that the companies have forced users into agreeing to new terms of service, with Facebook going as far as to block accounts that have not given consent. If upheld, these complaints could result in more than £3bn in fines for each company. 

However, as a business with under 250 members of staff what has happened? The simple answer is nothing. So much was made of the astronomically fines that business are overlooking the fact that as long as they show they are compliant and have ensured that the data that is held is protected this is currently enough for the governing bodies enforcing GDPR. 

What does this mean for marketing? 

According to a recent study by DataMeer, customer analytics made up 48% of big data use in sales and marketing. This information allows marketers to tailor ads specifically to individuals, using information such as their annual salary, browsing history and loyalty data to do so. 

With the new laws, companies must adapt quickly to ensure they don