An assessment by Andres Dickehut, CEO of Consultix GmbH, of the most important data protection challenges facing companies. The German marketing and IT service provider from Bremen has been working since 1994 for global brands in over 80 countries and looks after over 50 million client profiles. Consultix delivers CRM solutions, digital marketing, dedicated hosting and cloud services with the highest data protection standards – from mid 2016 onwards in its own nuclear bunker too. Consultix is technology leader in the field of personal data and has received several awards – also as the first CRM provider – for its pioneering role, including “EuroPriSe”, the European Privacy Seal. Dickehut describes the current ruling on Safe Harbor as a wake-up call and warns against wanting to sit out the current legal gray area.

As far as data protection is concerned, German companies are about to embark on a big journey in the coming twelve months. The most important stops along the way: Safe Harbor and the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In October 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) toppled the Safe Harbor Agreement valid since 2000 following a complaint by Austrian citizen Max Schrem. According to the ECJ, its decision was based on the inadequate level of data protection in the USA. The Safe Harbor Agreement defined conditions under which companies were permitted to process personal data from the European Union in the USA. If they acceded to the Agreement, then they were allowed to process the data in the USA. This also applied for data transfer between German and US-American companies. There is now considerable uncertainty, in particular amongst providers and users of online services and shops, cloud and messenger services, and social networks, because the exchange of data on the basis of Safe Harbor is no longer permitted from now on. BITCOM warns already that the EU is threatening to become a data island if existing legal alternatives fail to take effect.

In addition, the EU General Data Protection Regulation is now getting underway. The aim is to standardize regulations for the processing of personal data by commercial enterprises and public authorities in the 28 EU Member States. The planned General Data Protection Regulation will fundamentally change national data protection legislation valid until then. It will then no longer be possible for the EU Member States to influence data protection as laid down in the Regulation through individual intervention. The Regulation foresees heavy fines of up to four percent of a company’s global annual turnover in the event of non-compliance. Negotiations are completed now.

What does this mean for German companies and companies with their headquarters in the European Union?

All European companies should use the breakdown of Safe Harbor as an opportunity and take care of data protection and data security straight away and across the board. For the sake of their clients alone! Whether those companies with model contract clauses can continue their cooperation with US-American firms is – from a legal perspective - more than debatable. The same applies for companies which are operating in the EU but have their headquarters in the USA. If, in addition, the General Data Protection Regulation enters into force in 2016 as planned, then all companies in the EU would have to secure personal data in a way which is in line with European legislation within an estimated time period of two years. Quite a substantial effort, from which many are at present shying away. What is therefore needed is a clear analysis of internal structures as well as financial and human capital investment.

We can speak here from our own experience: International b2c brands trust our solutions, advice and extensive customer support. But affected by the discussion are, generally speaking, all organizations which process personal data. This includes providers and users of critical infrastructures, such as data center operators or telemedia providers (websites, apps). But corporate marketing and IT departments or CRM and marketing agencies as well as software providers need to rethink too, just as do some NGOs and public authorities.

The danger is that companies are currently sitting out the legal gray area and will then start to flounder if their data protection operations are subjected to thorough examination. The Safe Habor decision was a wake-up call and the start of an intense discussion on data protection. The only ones who will profit are those companies which act now!

Organizations which are already certified in the field of data protection – including Consultix itself – now have a clear competitive advantage. We have been on the market for over 20 years and with ProCampaign, our CRM and marketing platform, we have placed great value from the outset on high security standards in the processing of personal data. We work successfully for global brands in over 80 countries, including a number of clients with highly sensitive consumer profiles. ProCampaign was the first and to date only CRM platform to be awarded the European Privacy Seal. We and our clients do not need to worry about the legal discussion right now, because we can offer a safe haven for data.

Our own data centers are located in Germany – soon we will open a new center in a nuclear bunker. And to protect the data we use modern state-of-the-art firewalls, antivirus programs, intrusion prevention systems and other security products.

My conclusion with regard to Safe Harbor and Co. is nevertheless completely in tune with Rilke’s warning of the approaching autumn: “Whoever's homeless now, will build no shelter; who lives alone will live indefinitely so.” European companies are under similar time pressure. The journey has begun and it is time to pack the right things and seek a good travel companion.

About ProCampaign - The prize-winning CRM and marketing platform with the highest standards in the protection of personal data

ProCampaign is the web-based CRM and marketing tool for organizations which actively communicate with their customers. The customer engagement platform unites email, messaging and social media and combines digital marketing campaigns with customer loyalty instruments. Global brands use this highly flexible solution with interfaces to SAP, e-business and IoT to analyse and further develop the structure and requirements of their clientele. For this purpose, administration of all customer data takes place in centralized profiles.

When ProCampaign was developed, topics such as Safe Harbor were not yet on the agenda. Yet despite everything, data protection was always an important issue. From the outset, the intention was to place ProCampaign on a solid and legally compliant footing, both as far as data security is concerned as well as the efficiency of the technology. ProCampaign processes the data of more than 50 million customer profiles in over 80 countries.

ProCampaign is a brand of Bremen-based Consultix GmbH. The Hanseatic company does not have the problems which are about to hit other CRM and infrastructure providers in the context of the Safe Harbor discussion.
ProCampaign was the first customer relationship management platform to be awarded the European Privacy Seal for its exemplary data security. The data of ProCampaign customers are stored in the company’s own data centers in Germany. Another one will open in mid 2016: The marketing and IT service provider will then additionally store all data in its own nuclear bunker. Modern state-of-the-art firewalls, antivirus programs, intrusion prevention systems and other security products are used to protect sensitive customer data.
www.procampaign.com 

About Consultix GmbH:

Consultix GmbH has its headquarters in Bremen and operates at international level as a provider of marketing and IT services. The German, owner-led company was founded in 1994 and delivers web-based services and software for customer relationship management (CRM), customer loyalty systems, digital marketing and e-business. Global brands trust Consultix and its solutions, advice and extensive customer support. Flagship is the ProCampaign customer engagement platform. Consultix is technology leader in the field of personal data and has received several awards – also as the first CRM provider – for its pioneering role, including “EuroPriSe”, the European Privacy Seal, and TeleTrust’s “IT Security Made in Germany” (ITSMIG) seal. Alongside its digital business solutions, Consultix provides dedicated hosting as well as cloud services in its own high-security data centers in Germany.

Media Contact
Christian Colmer
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Consultix GmbH
Wachtstrasse 17-24
28195 Bremen, Germany
Tel: +49 (421) 333 88-0
E-Mail: Info@consultix.net
Web: www.consultix.net
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