Category: Digital Transformation

GDPR

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on May 25th 2018, after which date, organizations which hold personal data on EU citizens which are not compliant with the GDPR may face heavy fines.

Many small companies like mine are struggling to comply. The regulation is clearly aimed at the larger business-to-consumer companies who hold a lot of very personal data about their customers, such as their age, sexuality, political affiliations and so on, and could use this to target them in a way that could be seen as intrusive or offensive.

I have decided, however, to make sure the personal data we hold is compliant, partly because I want my customers to feel confident that their suppliers are trustworthy, but also because I see this as a chance to improve the service we provide and slim down our customer database and mailing lists.

Japanese companies in Europe are undoubtedly feeling particularly nervous about the GDPR, as Honda Motor Europe was already fined by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office in 2017 for violating a UK regulation which has very similar requirements to the GDPR regarding consent.

Consent is the key issue with GDPR.  There needs to be informed, positive consent by the customer for their data to be processed.  The nature of the data (what kind of personal details) which the company will hold, and what it will be used for (emails, newsletters, postal mailing etc) have to be clearly explained.  A double opt in is recommended – whereby people fill in the form, and then receive an email asking them to confirm that they do want to share their data.  A clear process for them to ask to be deleted from a database also needs to be in place.

It is not possible to “grandfather” (allow old conditions to continue even if they are against the new rules) previously held personal data, so it might be safest to reconfirm with people on your database that they still consent to you processing their data.  Of course, the risk with this is that many people will not consent and your mailing list will shrink.

But this brings me on to my second reason for deciding to comply as thoroughly as possible with the GDPR.  I want to make sure that my newsletters are really valued by my customers.  Our newsletters are not marketing our training so much as part of the after-service we provide.  They help our customers refresh and add to what they learnt in the classroom.

Manufacturers are also moving away from just selling a product, to selling a solution – hardware plus surrounding services such as maintenance and support, using the Internet of Things and Big Data to provide a more customised product.

Which is of course why the GDPR has become necessary.  Personal data can be used in a good way, to meet customer needs more completely, but, as we know in Europe, particularly in former dictatorships and communist regimes, personal data can be abused.

This article appears in Pernille Rudlin’s latest book “Shinrai: Japanese Corporate Integrity in a Disintegrating Europe” available as a paperback and Kindle ebook on Amazon.

For more content like this, subscribe to the free Rudlin Consulting Newsletter. 最新の在欧日系企業の状況については無料の月刊Rudlin Consulting ニューズレターにご登録ください。

Share Button
Read More
Why Japanese companies don’t use LinkedIn (but should)

I read in the Nikkei newspaper recently that Panasonic, Mitsubishi Estate and Rakuten are planning to make use of social networking site LinkedIn for recruitment outside Japan, including Europe.  LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site, based in California, with more than 270 million users worldwide, so it certainly represents an effective way to identify and attract new recruits.

I have been a member for more than 10 years, not to find a job, but to network with my European contacts in Japanese companies.   It has been noticeable, however, that Japanese employees and Japanese companies in general are not very active on LinkedIn, even though LinkedIn launched a Japanese version and set up an office in Tokyo in 2011.

I assume this is primarily because LinkedIn is used for mid-career hiring and job seeking, which is still not a popular activity in Japan.  Indeed, many Europeans dislike to display their skills and experience publicly, and signal thereby that they may be “for hire”.  Based on my own analysis, the British and Dutch are not so cautious, whereas the privacy conscious (and possibly less comfortable in English) Germans and French hold back.

Many of my German contacts use Xing, a Germany based social networking site instead.  However all Europeans (and people in multinationals in emerging markets such as Turkey) are aware of LinkedIn, and will take a look at it when they are considering moving to another company.

In other words, from an employer perspective, LinkedIn is a tool not just for searching for recruits based on skills and experience, but also for the company to present an attractive profile.

I recommend that any Japanese company reviewing their LinkedIn presence first of all ensure that the “official” company LinkedIn page is clearly labelled as official (to distinguish it from an alumnus site page run by an individual), and employees are encouraged to link their personal LinkedIn profiles to this official page.

More often than not, there are several  pages already existing for the Japanese company.  This needs to be tidied up, so that there is a headquarters page (in English), and any regional company pages are clearly identified as such.  It is possible to interlink the regional company pages to the headquarters page, to show they all belong to the same company family.

These official pages need to be managed by someone either in marketing or HR at the headquarters and regional subsidiaries.  They need a description of the company, including size, activities and a link to the correct website.  The pages also need to be “branded” to look visually appealing and reflect the company image.  Use should be made of the facility to add descriptions of products and services and add news about the company.

If this is done correctly, then “followers” of company will swiftly increase, both from potential recruits and also current employees, who will feel much happier now their employer has a clear and attractive LinkedIn presence they can associate themselves with.

(This article was originally written in Japanese for the 9th April 2014 Teikoku Databank News, and appears in Shinrai: Japanese Corporate Integrity in a Disintegrating Europe, available as a paperback and e-book on Amazon.)

For more content like this, subscribe to the free Rudlin Consulting Newsletter. 最新の在欧日系企業の状況については無料の月刊Rudlin Consulting ニューズレターにご登録ください。

Share Button
Read More