Brexit preparation Plans
Preparing for a no-deal Brexit, Part four
4.) Manage currency risk.
Many small business owners are often just focused only on the UK domestic market and currently are not importing or exporting, may erroneously think that they have no currency exposures. A humongous change in the European exchange rate with your trading partners from other EU countries as happened after Brexit may give importers and exporters a huge loss. For this reason, it pays to be aware of currency risk. Small businesses should review the currency arrangements that they are currently in. Look for ways to protect your business against fluctuations in exchange rates. Create operational plans for different possible scenarios.
5.) Update contracts.
As Brexit is moving closer and closer, the numerous laws, rules, and regulations throughout the United Kingdom and EU could and will be affected. All these changes will have a great impact on all businesses, the biggest hit would certainly be the small business that do not enjoy the cushion of protection big and major businesses may have. Thus, it is time that you look at your contracts. Updating agreements that involve licensing, distribution in various territories, and even trade deals should be another priority.
6.) Make your business GDPR complaint.
If you are a business that processes the personal data of EU citizens, you need to make sure that your business is GDPR compliant. GDPR applies to all EU Based companies or companies based out or EU that process personal data of EU citizens.
British small businesses must analyse the customer data, and identify the “personal data”(name, address, email, bank details, Photographs, IP address) and “Sensitive data” (religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health details) to find out how did you get the data, and how you’re using it. They must ask for customer content for storage and use of their personal and sensitive data.
Here are some of the steps to make your business GDPR compatible:
• Inform your customers on the steps you’ve taken to make your business practices GDPR compliant.
• Identify the types of data that are within the scope of the GDPR.
• Undertake a discovery exercise to find where the data is stored.
• Identify who is using what on the Internet: marketing departments, for example, may be using platforms such as Dropbox, Evernote and Slack.
• Identify employees who use their own devices or service in the cloud, so that they can be enabled and managed safely.
• Clearly establish what “data” means in the context of the company, along with a list of characteristics.
• Identify business processes that create / edit / store data of employees, customers and suppliers.
• Install encryption system to secure the data.
• Appoint a Data protection Officer.
Here is useful guide for preparing for Brexit and the General Data Protection Regulation
After the 17th October UK/EU meeting in Brussels it would seem it is going to the wire, so get those no-deal Brexit plans under way.
When more information is available to help the business person cope with the complexities of Brexit, information will be added here.