Thursday 9 August 2012

An elevator pitch for data protectors

My business mentor tells me that it’s really important to have a good elevator pitch.

What’s one of those?

Well, it’s a very short presentation which tells people who you are, where you come from, what you do, what sorts of clients you am looking for, and how you can help them.

It’s not really a sales pitch, it’s more of a way of introducing yourself at a networking event. You don’t meet many people who know they have an immediate compliance need. But people do want to know who to turn to when the need arises. Especially people running small and medium sized enterprises, for whom data protection exists as a really obscure concept - one which, they think, if they keep their head down, will never attract any interest from our chums in Wilmslow.

So, my elevator pitch explains how I might be able to help once someone has realised that they actually do need to have a confidential chat with a friendly face.

Here it is.

Let me know what you think. After all, I don’t want to waste anyone’s time telling people stuff they don’t need to know.

Hello everyone.

I’m Martin Hoskins from Privacy Consulting, based in Central London.

If you are concerned about the way your customer records are held, I can help. If you are concerned about the way your staff records are kept, I can help. And, when there’s a complaint that those records have been misused, I can help.

As we live our lives ever more on-line, we are increasingly affected by issues of privacy and trust. But what rights do people have when they share some of their personal information? What are your legal duties when you handle personal information? How can you legitimately exploit it for your own business purposes? And what could the consequences be if things go wrong?

No-one wants to have their passwords compromised, or for the wrong information to be made available to the wrong people. But it happens.

Privacy mishaps are making headlines worldwide. More and more people are being told that they’ve lost control over some of their personal information.

Data security and privacy issues have now moved from the backroom to the boardroom. Regulatory action is becoming more common. So, if you need to know what acceptable standards of data protection look like, then I can help.

Finally, should things go awfully wrong, and you get referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office, then I can help some more.

You can find me at www.martinhoskins.com and www.privacyconsulting.co.uk.



Image credit:
http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4b61b47a00000000009f71c5/elevator-bank.jpg

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