GDPR - you can't bury your head in the sand and hide from it. Here's what you need to do if your business isn't GDPR Compliant yet.

GDPR - you can't bury your head in the sand and hide from it. Here's what you need to do if your business isn't GDPR Compliant yet.

GDPR has landed! In an ideal world all businesses would be GDPR compliant after crossing the 25th May deadline but in reality for most businesses it is still a working process. It is too late if you haven't started working on it - but hey! It doesn't mean you shouldn't start now. 
​

The ICO is the regulating body for the General Data Protection Regulations. The right course of action for you will be to finalize a plan for your compliance and take small steps towards your goal. Document all the process and procedures, down to the tiniest details as a proof of your good-faith intentions to achieve GDPR compliance. As long as you are actively working towards being complaint, the ICO will be able to see that you’re trying.

The first order of things will be to audit all the information and devise a list of the personal data you currently hold.

1. Map all the sources of personal data in all your operations and document what you do with the data. Sort it by type, i.e. Names, addresses, phone numbers, and so on. You will need to know the data sources. Attribute a source (websites, native mobile applications, other digital touch point) for each separate piece of information documented.

2. Figure out whether the data is stored on site or in the cloud. This could be a list of internal databases, but could also include offline stores and third-party storage providers. 

3. Establish which departments or teams collect personal data.

4. Identify which third party vendors you are sharing this information with so that if you need to delete or amend the data, you can inform them that they must also update their records. Understand how the vendors use the data you share with them and if they are complying with GDPR. Cross-check your contracts and service level agreements with them.

5. Each Partner that has access to the data must have a valid reason to obtain and use it.

6. Decide what information you will continue to hold and that which you can destroy. 

In the process of cleanup, be mindful and ask yourself: 

Why are we saving all this data?

Can we avoid collecting certain categories of personal information?

Can we delete this data instead of archiving it?

7. You should appoint a data protection officer or data controller who is in charge of GDPR compliance to manage data requests, report security breaches and ensure that relevant policies are updated from time to time.

8. Prioritize updating your terms and conditions, privacy policy and cookie policy. They should clearly state your alignment with the spirit of the law for protecting data privacy. Don’t claim to be compliant if you’re not. Just state your commitment to protecting consumer data and reassure your users that you’re actively working to meet GDPR requirements.

9. You need to have adequate measures in place to detect, report, and investigate in the event of a personal data breach. Have a communication plan to report a breach to your users.

10. GDPR requires you to establish a legal basis for collecting data, which you will need to outline in your privacy policy. You need to have a proof for requesting and obtaining consent. The proof must be logged into your system with a time stamp.

We will be discussing in detail about Consent and the general misconceptions around Consent and Legitimate Interest in our next post. 

    • Recent Topics

    • Getting Project Template List using the REST API

      I am trying to confirm that I can use the REST API to create a project using a project template. The API documentation indicates this is possible by providing the Template ID, but it is not clear at all how to get a list of available Project Templates

    • How to display the CONTACT ID in the Contact page

      Hi, I've seen this conversation below and it is exactly the same question I'm raising now, but unfortunately the last message is not solved https://help.zoho.com/portal/community/topic/show-contact-id-while-editing-contact-form I need to show the ContactId and I don't know how to do this. The last message included in the conversaton shows the way but not it is not completed. "I am sorry by default we do not have the option to show the record ID for the contacts in the field in a record. When you

    • How to change margins in templates

      Hi, I'm new to Zoho Campaigns, and am trying to figure out how to adjust the margins within an email template.  The default margins make the text go all the way to the edges of the page.  Please advise.

    • Create Canvas list view templates from images powered by Zia

      Currently available for all paid editions of Zoho CRM in the US, EU, IN, JP & CN DCs. Designing a personalized CRM interface just got even easier. In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, AI is transforming the way we work by automating complex tasks

    • Painfully Slow Zoho mail

      Since yesterday Zoho Mail seems to have starting functioning very slowly and having a few bugs. It's slow to open mails, slow to send, slow to change between email accounts. Sometimes clicking on a particular folder (eg Sent folder) stops working and

    • "Wrong password or login" Problem to configure Zoho on MAIL App on my Macbook

      Hi, I'm having problems to configure my e-mail on my MAIL App(Macbook pro). My e-mail is hari@trespontoum.net Actually was working perfectly, and still working on my Iphone. My MAIL App prompt me that my login or password is wrong. I tried to change 3

    • "User already exist in your org"

      Hello, I've just read a discussion about this issue, which didn't solve my problem. I'm trying to add the following emails: sales@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk returns@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk orders@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk I'm getting an error message each time I try and add them. None of them are primary or secondary emails and none of them have been created as users before. I know this as when I try and login and do 'forgot my password' all I get is an error message saying 'user invalid'. Please advise.

    • Operation Not Permitted

      Hi, I have problem in adding user after verifying the domain but it seems like error appeared which is "operation not permitted". For your information, I had delete other domain before did it.

    • Email forwarding setup fails

      I'm trying to set up email forwarding from my Zoho email to my gmail address. I followed the directions to set up email forwarding here: https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/email-forwarding.html. I did only steps 1-6. After doing this, rather than setting

    • Shopify store email issues- Not getting emails

      Hi We have migrated from Microsoft outlook to Zoho back in March, we have a shopify store, the domain is hosted on namesilo, not shopify, I have seen some people here complaining about not getting emails from customers who fill out the contact form on

    • How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

    • Invoice Discount Account

      Is there a way to change the account used for Discounts applied to an invoice? The current Discount account (ZB native account) type is an "Income" type. I would like to change it to "Other Income", but that is not possible, I am assuming because it contains

    • Need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books

      I N=need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books to do recons of the accounts but when i see the same they are not visible in the Accountant - Account Transactions report

    • javax.mail.authenticationfailedexception 535 authentication failed

      Hi, I am facing 535 authentication failed error when trying to send email from zoho desktop as well as in webmail. Can you suggest to fix this issue,. Regards, Rekha

    • Phantom Opening Balance

      While experimenting w/ creating a composite item, Zoho added funds to Petty Cash and added Bank Account equal to previous day's balance. I'm unable to undo the adding of funds. Attaching screenshots of both bank account and petty cash transactions.

    • Importing customer comments and multiple shipto addresses

      I am evaluating Zoho Books and have most of my data imported with two exceptions: (1) Import customer comments - in my current system I have several comments of different types, and I need to bring these into Zoho. Preferably Books customer records, but

    • Detailed Account Reports - Add Running Balance

      When one clicks into an account from a report (say P/L or Balance Sheet), the default reports have the Debit, Credit, and then the Amount. The Amount column (last one) is duplicate information. It would be far better and fit more peoples' use cases if

    • How to Billed from two different GST Numbers

      How to Billed from two different GST Numbers. Suppose ABC & Co had GST registration in Delhi and Haryana and Zoho account is created with Delhi GST Registration number. Now i also want to issue invoice from Haryana GST Registration number. How can i proceed ?

    • Zoho IP blocked by SpamHaus

      ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.0 Your server IP address is in the SpamHaus SBL-XBL database, bye

    • IMAP Communication Problems - IMAP Down Again

      We are experiencing the same problems over the last week or so that were supposedly 'solved' according to this thread. Zoho Imap Down Again This is affecting attempts to use IMAP on multiple ISPs and users so is definitely narrowed down to Zoho problems.

    • Can't login to Zoho mail

      I'm logged into Zoho but when I try to go in zoho mail I get: Invalid request! The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try again. I just set up my mx records and stuff with namecheap a few

    • Hotmail is STILL blocking the zoho mail IP

      Greetings, as I already mentioned in my last message, my Zoho IP has been blocked by Hotmail for more than 15 days. Although someone said that the issue was "solved," it still isn't, and this amount of time seems neither normal for a "serious" company,

    • Keyboard shortcut M key

      I'm trying to customize my keyboard shortcuts and assign the "m" key. But it says the key is already assigned. I've looked through all my shortcuts and can't see any assigned "m". When I select an email and press the M key, nothing happens. What is the

    • Manage customer access across multi-brand help centers

      Hello everyone! Managing customer's access across multiple brands has been streamlined with the ability to invite, reinvite, approve, reject, and deactivate contacts individually for each help center brand . This enhancement gives administrators precise

    • White Label certificate

      Hi all, About 72 hours ago, we fulfilled all steps for white labeling (CNAME to point to mail.cs.zohohost.eu), but since then the configuration page is now stuck at "generating certificate" since 3 days. When I execute an NSLOOKUP mail.webfoundry.be it

    • Unusual activity detected from this IP. Please try again after some time

      When i try to create new addresses on my account i am getting this error, it has been 24 hours now and i am still getting this error can anyone help

    • How to add a new domain in my account?

      Probably zoho has the worst UI in the market. Cannot add a new domain to manage a new email address.

    • Report sorting not working

      I make extensive use of Summary reports and Pivot Tables. Most of these reports are structured such that I have several columns of "information" data that I want displayed, followed by one or more "Data" summarizations. For example, I have the following

    • New Enhancements in Wizards

      Dear All, Wizards help you break a long form into a series of smaller forms on different screens, making it less overwhelming. We are thrilled to introduce a couple of enhancements to wizards in Zoho CRM: Enhancements for conditional rules in Wizards

    • Find and Merge Duplicates to trigger webhook

      My sales team uses the Find and Merge Duplicates feature often to cleanup records in the CRM. We use webhooks to signal to our internal tools database when new Contacts are created, updated, or deleted, in order to keep our DB in sync with Zoho CRM. However,

    • Charting the 2025 Voyage: Zoho Invoice's Year in Review

      2025 has been a year of progress, productivity, and purposeful growth for Zoho Invoice. From expanding into new regions to refining everyday workflows, each update was designed to help businesses stay compliant, get paid faster, and work with confidence.

    • How to Hide System-DefinedTemplates in Service Report

      Is there any option available to hide system-defined templates? these templates are causing confusion for field users.

    • WhatsApp Report in Bigin CRM

      Reporting feature for Bigin CRM’s integrated WhatsApp that provides insights such as: Number of WhatsApp conversations closed Number of messages sent and received Number of conversations replied to Response and closure metrics for WhatsApp chats More

    • Issue with Azure DevOps Integration in Zoho Flow

      Hello, All workflows between Zoho Flow and Azure DevOps have stopped working for several days now. Upon further investigation, it seems that the connection to Azure DevOps is no longer directly supported. Indeed, Microsoft has deprecated the Azure DevOps

    • Narrative 16: Simplify with workflows

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 16: Simplify with workflows What is a workflow? A workflow organizes business tasks in a defined sequence that makes each step clear to all participants. This ensures work is completed

    • Zoho Invoice Customer Login Portal

      Are there any plans for a customer portal to Zoho Invoice, ala Freshbooks?  I would like customers that I invoice to be able to login to review invoices and invoice history.  I have not switched from Freshbooks for this very reason.

    • Random Leads are being created

      Hi, Every few days I am getting random leads that are being created with no form interactions at all. The email addresses are from obvious spam, such as 'Easymerchantsx'. When I look at the timeline, there is a Visit record and then a Lead Created record,

    • Print a price list or price book

      Hi Community. Am I right in concluding that Zoho has no functionality to print a price list from either Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books? I won't get stuck on the fact that Zoho doesn't sync price books between Zoho CRM and Books/Inventory (more

    • Bar Chart -- sort X-axis

      Hi! I created a bar chart ("Top 10 Products by Revenue") X-axis: Product Name Y-axis: Revenue Filter: Revenue - Top 10 Here's a picture: http://screencast.com/t/ZTJlZTdkNz The x-axis is sorted alphabetically by Product Name. How can I force it to sort numerically by Revenue?

    • ZoHo Flow Custom Function not Processing JSON

      JSON is being escaped and converting all the quotes in the JSON to '"' Here's the Code: void InsertRowInE123EligibitySheet(map input) { rawData = get("data",""); decodedData = rawData.htmlDecode(); data = decodedData.toMap(); sheet_id = "ID GOES

    • Next Page