GDPR is 5 - It’s time to build!

Appmilla welcomes Gilbert Hill to the team

Gilbert Hill

Gilbert explains how financial services are in a unique position to bring the benefits of technology developed in the PrivTech and Web3 spaces to the mass market.

Since 25 May, GDPR (Global Data Protection Regulation) has been part of our lives for 5 years. In the development of children, this is when physical skills are honed; riding a bike, climbing stairs and physical things which start to stretch their horizons.

At 5, children start to work together towards a common goal; building a sandcastle or creating roles in an imaginary land can require patience, empathy and dealing with new emotions. As adults our role is now to support them, rather than be the sole focus of their attention and entertainment!

GDPR was day one for a new era which marked the first framework for fair collection, storage and use of personal data in all the ways it makes technology and finance work. It has since become the gold standard and sparked ‘copycat’ regulations in areas including Brazil, Japan, India and parts of North America.

The way most companies dealt with this change in the first 5 years was to focus on the letter of the law, understanding where they stood and how to comply. Most of this work was done with lawyers, professional advisors and the support of regulatory experts. The result has been more thoughtful processes around data (good) and a lot of jargon in the form of cookie banners and compliance policies (less good).

Where does this leave creative designers, coders and builders? Initially, opportunities seemed endless, and a cottage industry of projects sprang up to meet the expected demand for PrivTech from consumers, investors and responsible companies to find better ways to give people control of their data and clear compliance log jams.

Like others, my imagination was captured by GDPR and I dived into this new ecosystem, meeting some fantastic people along the way. In particular, the Bristol-based team on the Tapmydata project impressed me from day one with their technical skill, intuitive UX and ability to quickly ship reliable, consumer-grade apps to the people we believed needed them.

However, what we discovered was not only do you need tech chops and the ability to scan the horizon, this must chime with the needs of businesses today. As long as compliance processes we viewed as antiquated were good enough for regulators, companies had no need to disrupt them with untested tech, and people continue to trust businesses who treat their data with respect. The wave never hit the beach, in funding or adoption.

In recent years there have been huge developments in open banking and identity, blockchain and AI technology, which can now start to be applied to safely releasing the 80% of commercial data currently sitting in silos. This is the new focus of regulators and governments across the world, in a spirit of partnership with businesses and other major custodians of our data.

The model increasingly being adopted is one which works in the FinTech world; delivered in the form of cross-platform apps, component marketplaces or sandboxes where new technology can be tested on the real problems companies bring to them. Getting this right could result in unlocked GDP to the tune of billions each year, and deepen the relationship between citizens and companies providing useful services.

Over the next 5 years, I believe financial services organizations are in a unique position to bring the benefits of technology developed in the PrivTech and Web3 spaces to the mass market, and core members of this Bristol team have again come together to help them build, in the form of Appmilla. I’m excited to be supporting them as Advisor and share news and case studies of the projects we’re already working on in the months ahead.

“It’s fantastic to have Gilbert on the team again, his advice in all areas of data, regulation, Web3 and Fintech is going to be super useful to our offering. His work as Industry Commissioner to the UK’s Data & Marketing Regulator will certainly provide great insights and help us to keep ahead of the game too.” – James Guest, CEO Appmilla.

Do you want to better understand the opportunities and risks of data within your organisation, and how Appmilla might help you to unlock its potential for your business and customers? Let’s talk.