In the aftermath of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) going into effect on May 25, 2018, data management has been a top priority for businesses. 

If you’ve been monitoring GDPR compliance updates as they unfold, you know that data is at the center of everything. 

What does data retention have to do with the General Data Protection Regulation? 

Everything. 

Data retention is how a company manages and stores user or customer data. With the implementation of GDPR, data retention is more critical than ever. 

If you’re still trying to figure out data retention and how it relates to GDPR data retention, you’ve come to the right place. 

This blog post will explore everything you need about GDPR data retention and helping your business meet those standards moving forward. 

What is GDPR?

First, let’s start with the basics. 

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, and it’s a data protection standard. The GDPR is designed to protect the personal data of EU citizens by regulating how companies can collect, store, and process data.

Specifically, the GDPR will require businesses to be more transparent about collecting and storing data and give users more control over what data is collected and used. 

The GDPR data retention policy mandates companies or businesses to employ specific security measures when collecting and storing customer data belonging to EU citizens.

It states that companies must protect user data and offer customers tools like the right to request the deletion of their data. The law also holds businesses accountable for data breaches that may result in stolen data.

Why is Data Retention Important for GDPR Compliance?

When businesses are considering their GDPR compliance strategy, one of the first things they need to do is assess the current data in their database. In other words, they need to conduct a data audit to understand what they are currently collecting and storing and how long they need to keep that data. 

There are some clauses of the GDPR data retention policy that you should follow to be compliant with GDPR. It’s essential to keep data as long as you need it for your business, but it’s also crucial to know how long you need to store data to comply with GDPR. 

For example, if you have a customer who placed an order six months ago and has an ongoing subscription, you should be able to access that information whenever you need it. 

You should also have an easy way to access that data if someone from the government requests it. So, it would be best if you had a data retention policy that defines how long you keep such data.

Why is GDPR Compliance important to a company’s bottom line?

GDPR compliance is more than just having a good reputation. It’s also about protecting your company’s bottom line. In other words, GDPR compliance is crucial because it helps your company avoid hefty fines and meet customer expectations. 

GDPR penalties are not to be taken lightly; they can be up to €20 million or 4% of your company’s annual revenue, whichever is greater. You could face severe consequences if your company doesn’t take GDPR seriously. 

Also, your customers may take their business elsewhere if they don’t feel their data is secure. 

Moreover, customers may be more likely to file a complaint against your company if they don’t feel their data is safe. 

Data breaches can also have severe repercussions for your company’s bottom line.

How to Meet GDPR Data Retention Requirements

Given the ever-growing data volume, it appears challenging to securely and safely preserve data in a search-ready form to meet the GDPR data retention requirements. 

A scalable cloud data archival solution can mitigate these challenges and help you retain your critical data with tools for on-demand access.

Although the GDPR states that businesses must keep user data for at least ten years, there are no specific guidelines for how long you should retain data. 

That’s because every company has different data types and retention requirements.

For example, if your company is focused on e-commerce, it may need to keep data like customer orders, payment information, and shipping information. If your company is focused on B2B services, they may need to keep data like contracts, invoices, and correspondence. No two companies are the same, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution for data retention.

But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a solution made just for you.

Vaultastic’s new-age flexible cloud data archival and retention helps you comply with GDPR without the hassles or high costs.

Most industries have become increasingly data-driven in the past decade, and that trend is only accelerating. 

In the coming years, businesses will trust their data with third parties more than ever. While this increased reliance on outside sources of information creates new growth opportunities, it also exposes businesses to a greater risk of a security breach or accidental data leak. 

With so much confidential information at stake, companies need an effective solution for safeguarding their confidential data while enabling faster access when necessary.

To optimally safeguard your company’s confidential data from cyberattackers and accidental leaks, you should implement a secure digital storage solution with the best features, including complaint policies like document management software, encryption software, and data storage services. 

Vaultastic’s agile cloud data archival can help you:

• Capture and protect emails, files, and web content data automatically from a wide range of data sources.
• Set up basic data retention policies that govern how long you should retain your data.
• Access on-demand tools for ediscovery and extraction to help respond quickly to queries.
• Create more complex retention policies with additional settings like legal hold.

Vaultastic can help you keep your data safe while keeping your costs down. In addition to that, it’s easy to use and integrates seamlessly with your existing systems. 

Related: Vaultastic’s GDPR Shared responsibility model explains how Vaultastic helps you at each step.

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