"It's not often that we commemorate of a piece of regulation, but the seventh anniversary of the GDPR is a little special. The GDPR has not only become a well-known fixture in data privacy the world over, but--and this might be an unfashionable view--it has also become a gold-standard for international, principles-based regulation.
"At the time it took effect, the main conversation around the GDPR was the significant fines – up to 4% of global revenue – that the EU was set to levy on non-compliant businesses. This catapulted the topic of data to Boardroom level, a position that it fully occupies in 2025 with the advent of AI and the notion of data monetisation interesting a wide range of businesses.
"Businesses now face a carrot and stick situation. The 'stick' of the GDPR is well-established after eight years, but the 'carrot' is the growing potential to monetise their data held internally – as long as that data has the right permissions and is held securely and privately – for AI innovation. Businesses can either comply with data privacy standards and reap the rewards or risk noncompliance and miss out on perhaps the opportunity of the decade."
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