Businesses have a responsibility of ensuring that the data about their customers as well as employees is protected. There are certain laws in place in different states as well as countries which require businesses to protect data.

It is essential for a business to know about data protection to comply with the many rules and regulations. A company should set up policies in line with the regulations to ensure that the laws are being met. There are specific ways through which a business can collect and use personal data, but there are limitations to use this data. Every company should comply with data protection policies.

Your business needs to abide by the rules on the protection of data if it’s storing or using any personal information. The rules apply to just about everyone.

• Staff Recruitment
• Managing of Staff Records
• Marketing Products or Services
• Information on Customer Data

Examples of the information which a business might include are the address of customers, employees and even their phone numbers.

What the Companies Must Do?

The business needs to inform the information commissioner or office of the state or city in which the business is located about the nature of the information and how the business uses this information or intends to use this information.

A business will also have to respond to data protection requests by providing the authorities with the information that they require.

Policies Which a Business Must Have In Place

• Encryption policies: A business must have an encryption policy regarding all the data.
• Acceptable use policies: Policies regarding the use of certain applications and methods need to be developed.
• Password policies: The IT department of the business needs to ensure that confidentiality of the passwords is maintained and that no one uses the password of another employee to access their work or tasks.
• Email policies: Another policy which needs to be made by the IT department is the email policy, it is essential for a business to follow a set standard on this to allow for the brand image of the business to be maintained.
• Data processing policies: The business will need to have a policy in place about how the data is processed and used. Data protection needs to be maintained.

Principles Every Business Needs To Follow For Data Protection

Every business must know about the data protection principles in order to develop policies which keep the principles in mind. Follow the below mentioned principles to keep in line with the best practices.

• Data to only be processed for limited purposes.
• To be processed fairly and lawfully.
• Only for adequate and relevant use and not for an excessive use.
• Accuracy to be maintained.
• Only to be kept for a certain amount of time.
• Only processed as allowed.
• To be kept secure.
• Do not transfer the data to other countries without ensuring complete data protection.