For Mike Davis, author and spokesperson for independent global information professionals’ organisation, AIIM, recent European data protection regulation changes need to be tracked by anyone interested in storing and managing cloud content.

How aware are you of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

(There’s a good Information Commissoner’s Office guide to all things GDPR here, on their website by the way – bit.ly/1njMqkC)

Chances are, not as much as you should be. That’s possibly a problem if you’re at all involved in storing cloud content, though – because GDPR is the European Union’s imminent scheme to bring all 28 member countries under a single regime of rules, with similar penalties for breaches right across the Union. (Adoption is currently scheduled for late 2014 and the regulation is likely to take effect after a transition period of two years.)

There’s good news, though – as GDPR actually represents an opportunity for cloud providers to deliver consistent EU-wide services under a single operations model.

But to do that, cloud service providers and cloud service users need to be aware of the proposed legislative changes – and the challenges.

To help stakeholders, including the Document and Enterprise Content Management community here on DMCollaborators, get to grips with what GDPR really means we’ve just released a report (you can download it here for free: http://www.aiim.org/Research-and-Publications/Research/Industry-Watch/Data-Privacy-2014) on the main issues.

To further aid understanding – especially around the main features of both the current and potential future legislative landscape in Europe regarding data protection and data privacy – I also want to summarise the main points of that report in a couple of future blogs here on the DMCollaborators’ forum, if that’s OK with you.

Confusion over data responsibilities

On a slightly personal note, I think that this is really well worth doing – as AIIM thinks that you absolutely will need some context around what GDPR means to make properly informed decisions re: cloud versus on-premise content storage.

A proper understanding of GDPR will also help both service providers and end users remain more compliant with what will soon be emerging cross-European data law.

That’s important, as the growth in cloud in all its forms – private, public, hybrid – has caused a great deal of uncertainty regarding the specific responsibilities of organisations regarding data protection and data privacy, especially, almost notoriously so, of course, in the public sector. So, the next time we speak, let’s dive in with an overview of the background to EU data protection as it currently stands – and what is going to change.

The author is an independent IT analyst with a 30 year plus career, specialising in information management, governance and processes. Prior to working as an analyst – first for The Butler Group, then latterly for Ovum – Mike was an IT Director in the NHS.