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Protect your business – can your customers trust you with their data?

by | Jun 23, 2021 | CUSTOMER, DIGITAL, RESILIENCE | 0 comments

I hope these past couple of weeks have been productive and profitable for you. We’ve been run off our feet here at Grow NZ – in the best way possible – and have been really enjoying supporting many new clients with their growth and marketing strategies.

But we are breaking our email silence this week with some important findings and some strong words of advice for every single business with any sort of online presence.

With cybercrime on the rise and increased global scrutiny around data privacy and protection, Grow NZ Business recently conducted a random review of over 150 businesses and uncovered a staggering number of breaches to the recently updated Privacy Act.

This shocking finding got me thinking – how many of us are oblivious to the new requirements we are legally bound to meet? The risks are quite significant – brand damage, remediation costs, fines and even criminal charges…

Read on to protect you, your business and your customers’ privacy rights.

Mind the gap

New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020 came into effect on 1 December last year, updating many of the outdated requirements of the 1993 edition with new obligations that ensure businesses keep the personal and professional information of their customers, clients and employees safe in our digital age. However, our review has found many kiwi businesses are yet to implement several legally-required data protection measures.

In fact, 77% of the businesses we reviewed appear to be non-compliant with the Privacy Act 2020 in one way or another.  Most concerning is that 85% of the accounting firms and a whopping 87% of the website developers we reviewed appear to be failing against at least one of the Privacy Act 2020 requirements.

Accountants and web developers are often some of the most trusted advisors for small to medium-sized businesses in this country, so it’s disappointing to find such a high percentage are not taking all the steps required to protect client data, or just ensure their clients are kept abreast of the changing legal requirements.  This is where Grow NZ Business helps you stay up to date, compliant and risk-mitigated.

I’ve observed a widening gap in knowledge and expertise amongst web developers over the past year or so, both when it comes to legal compliance and keeping up to date with the latest digital trends and operating environments. This year alone, we have seen significant changes to Facebook advertising, Google algorithms and secure server environments. If digital business partners aren’t keeping up with these changes, it’s their customers who miss out – whether that be from a data protection point of view, or via missed opportunities for growth in the digital space.

The same goes for accountants. Don’t be fooled by the job title. Do your research and make sure these professionals are really fit for purpose.

Your privacy statement should be public

The good news is one of the most common areas of non-compliance we found is actually one of the easiest to remedy.

85% of businesses we looked at have not yet taken the relatively simple step of having a privacy statement published on their website, as required by law when collecting personal data.

If you find yourself included in this group because your web developer has not keep you up to date, don’t despair, you can sort yourself out with a privacy statement in just five minutes using the Privacy Commissioner’s online privacy statement generator.

Our jargon-free Privacy Act checklist

We’re also here to help with our super simple eBook designed to help kiwi businesses check their compliance with the Privacy Act 2020. And it’s free for Grow NZ members!

The checklist has been loaded onto your Grow NZ Member Portal for a free download as part of your Grow NZ Membership benefits. You can also purchase a copy here for just $9.99 plus GST- tax deductible too of course!

Download my data privacy checklist