For many consultancies, the new European privacy legislation due to come into force in 2018 is likely to be an unknown or unwelcome prospect. All UK businesses trading with Europe, or representing European clients, will have to follow stricter guidelines on how they obtain and manage personal data, and face harsher penalties for breaches, regardless of Brexit.

In order to be correctly prepared for the enforcement of GDPR, your consultancy needs to be taking action now. To help you understand the implications of the new laws and the provisions you need to be making, Metis has produced the following guide: ‘Why you and your clients will be affected by imminent new privacy laws.’

Within this article, we talk to former Head of Privacy at the BBC and data privacy expert James Leaton Gray. In our exclusive interview, James stresses the importance of putting the right compliance strategies in place ahead of time:

“A surprising number of businesses aren’t aware of this change or are ignoring it, hoping it will either go away or won’t be as bad as it sounds. You have to have measures in place, and to start thinking about data breaches now - don’t think it’s never going to happen to me, plan for when it does.”

In the guide, we take an in-depth look at what the new rules really mean and how they will affect the working practices of your consultancy and the ways in which you help your clients to do business.

For further details on the specifics of GDPR, and to avoid costly damages to your company and its reputation, read the article that every consultancy needs to know about; ‘Metis Insights for Consultants: Why you and your clients will be affected by imminent new privacy laws.’