What GDPR Means For The Mobile App Industry ?

With the fast-growing pace of the app technology, you don’t have a choice but to constantly adapt and evolve, or just fall silently.

How Lovely!!! J

Indeed there is a strong sarcasm in my thought process when I am writing this blog piece now, but it is not at all acerbic but there is a whole dose of positivity filled in it since the advancement in the technology finally leads to the betterment in our daily professional and personal lives.

This time the advancement wagon is taken to a next level with the GDPR.

Is it something related to wall-street stalwarts or some new taxation from the government????

Puzzled???

I too was, when I first heard it, but sooner I explored it further, I got to know that it is a haven for the mobile app development process and would take the data privacy standard to the next level.

Is it really!!!

Yes, it is, but instead of drawing your attention here, I would request you to take a look further and read more…

• What Is GDPR???

Before defining it further, I would love to talk about the journey it has carried.

It was officially created on the 27th April 2016, but the companies were given a two year grace period to finally enforce the GDPR by the 25th may 2018 to apply its regulations on the 28 member states of the EU.

Also, any company which has the users or the targeted audience in the EU will have to follow it and non-compliance would cost companies dearly.

GDPR is the regulation, which has been implemented to protect EU citizens’ personal data…like

• Name, address, and location
• ID numbers
• Sexual orientation
• Racial or ethnic data
• Political opinions
• Biometric data
• IP address
• Cookie data
• RFID tags

• Why Is GDPR Needed???

As per a survey conducted 80% of consumers from France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the U.S. lost banking and financial data

Privacy Invasion…this is the only factor, which has harvested the seedling of GDPR.

Albeit there had been the considerable and the most appreciable stringent rules which EU has followed since 1995, related to public concern over privacy problems.

But since now the world has transformed into a hub of the internet, which leaves more space for the hackers to try their hands on the users’ data effortlessly, thus a solution is needed to address the ways in which data can be stored, collected and transferred without experiencing the data breach.

As consumers are getting the better facilities to experience the technologies, they expect a sheer platform and responsiveness from their data carriers in the form of companies.

Worth to mention, if your company becomes the prey of hacking then, consumers are likely to tarnish your company than the hackers, hence it is a required aspect to comply GDPR to battle the privacy issues.

• What Is The Criteria???

GDPR will affect any company, which stores or processes personal information about EU citizens within EU states or not having a business presence in EU.

The criteria are…

• A presence in an EU country.
• No presence in the EU, but processes the personal data of European residents.
• More than 250 employees.
• Fewer than 250 employees but has the data-processing impacts the rights and freedoms of data subjects.

• Which All Sectors Will Comply?

The most affected industries or the business sectors by the GDPR implication…

• Technology 53%
• Online retailers 45 %
• Software companies 44%
• Financial services 37 %
• Online services/SaaS 34 %
• Retail/consumer packaged goods 33%

Although this is merely a rough order of magnitude, and the more sectors or the percentage can be added further.
 

• What The Power Users Will Have With GDPR 

• Data access- now users can access with an ease about the data that has been collected about them and further they can explore the purpose behind the data collection.
• Right to Be Forgotten- Users have the right to erase personal data from the database.
• Privacy by Design- With this the data protection concept has to be considered and designed to form the initial stage of the mobile app development cycle.
• Data Breach Notifications- This is the rule of GDPR for every app developer, wherein they need to announce the breach no later than 72 hours after detecting.

• How It Will Affect The Mobile App Industry???

GDPR is not just for one industry but it is largely for every industry and the business sector and the GDPR for mobile app development is a hot-selling cake, which must be studied ingredient by ingredient to understand it better.

Within your app development industry, you must not forget, that this new rule will change the way of data collection for your apps, thus, now you need to consider what information your app requires, and who all can access this information, hence ask these questions…

• For the on-boarding process, an email is required, but refrain yourself from asking the unnecessary information like the user’s location.
• The way they process, store, and protect customers’ personal data.
• Understand that why and how your app collects, stores, and transfers personal data.
• Ensure to update the servers and firewall configurations, as they play a vital role in data security process.
• Limit down the physical and digital access to protect data further.
• Check if you really need to use personal data in the app.
• If you are using the users’ data, make sure the users know you collected their data.

Last but not the least, Take Care of Data Protection in every possible way… J

• Can Your App Development Company Skip GDPR???

1. It is not possible, because GDPR has the penalty rule of up to €20 million or 4 percent of global annual turnover, whichever is higher, in the event of non-compliance.

Remember, whether you are a startup app development company or a leading app development many in Canada, but GDPR is equally significant for both of you.

Thus living in this misconception that your mobile app business is small and it should not be affected by GDPR, is a suicidal thought indeed.

The size of your business or your mobile app has nothing to comply with it, but what matters most is the information you collect and process, which makes you a viable GDPR compliant app development company.

I support this privacy revolution and urge every app development company who fall fit in the criteria to develop and design the mobile apps which comply with GDPR.

Let’s welcome this new privacy and security shield and help the mobile apps to grow more secure and safer.