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The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation gives individuals living in member states unprecedented rights over personal data. Organizations that collect, process, or store personally identifiable information must comply with GDPR. For app developers, cloud storage platforms, and other SaaS businesses, these regulations can feel overwhelmingly complex, but they’re not optional. The purpose of this guide is to simplify GDPR compliance for SaaS platform owners by outlining key requirements, responsibilities, and steps.
Data controllers make the decisions about what data is processed, how it’s used, where it’s stored, and who has access to it. On the other hand, data processors only follow the controller’s instructions for these activities. Processors must still ensure compliance with GDPR standards, but there are fewer requirements to manage.
Is your SaaS platform a controller or a processor? It depends on whether you offer subscription services to many different organizations or build bespoke apps for a single client. Most of the time, SaaS developers are considered data controllers or joint controllers, fully responsible for GDPR compliance.
Avoiding GDPR violations is a must for any SaaS developer with clients in the EU or UK. Considering that fines can reach €10 to €20 million, or 2% to 4% of your global annual revenue, complying with GDPR is a serious matter.
Even though GDPR compliance involves detailed risk, cybersecurity, and governance requirements, the GDPR framework is built on seven simple principles:
Every SaaS provider must comply with these seven pillars, from payment gateways to CRM software platforms.
To comply with GDPR for SaaS development, you need to map compliance requirements to your operations and platform features.
GDPR Article 25 requires data protection to be implemented by design and by default. This means that data security must be built into your app or platform from the ground up. Access controls, firewalls, logging, and encryption are a few necessary technical and operational safeguards.
Normally, only companies with more than 250 employees are required to keep a list of compliance and processing activities for GDPR. For many SaaS vendors, however, things are different. Databases are a prime target for cybercriminals, and SaaS platforms often process higher-risk information like payment data or banking details.
To be compliant, you may need to carry out an in-depth information audit and list all processing activities. This list should show what, how, where, and who for every piece of data, including your cybersecurity protections.
One of the most important parts of GDPR compliance is creating a detailed privacy policy. GDPR-compliant policies have to spell out everything for data subjects:
In nearly all cases, the only way SaaS platform owners can legally gather PII is with informed consent. That’s why making the policy easy to understand is so important.
If you use any third-party vendors to provide your services, you’re also responsible for their GDPR compliance. For example, app developers who use a separate cloud-based storage solution need to know how the data is stored and protected, both at rest and in transit. You should also have a signed data processing agreement with each third-party provider.
GDPR challenges the way app developers and business management platforms typically think about data collection and processing. You can’t approach EU residents with the idea of gathering as much data as possible and finding ways to use it or monetize it later. Instead, you have to clearly and precisely define all of your processing activities from the outset.
GDPR also gives individuals rights that can be challenging from a technical or financial standpoint:
These requirements mean you have to keep data in an organized format that doesn’t misplace or miscategorize records. You only have 30 days to respond to records requests.
Consumer data isn’t the other thing subject to GDPR protections. You also have to safeguard PII for EU employees and business customers. For SaaS platforms, this can mean juggling the records of countless data subjects, as well as dozens or hundreds of platform users per organization.
Transferring PII from EU sources to storage platforms or software in the United States opens a different can of worms. You must appoint a GDPR data protection officer and have a representative located in the EU. Your organization also has to enroll in the EU-US Data Protection Framework and follow the agreement’s requirements for dispute resolution, data processing, accountability, and data integrity.
Whether you’re building a new app or adapting an existing platform, technology can make the road to GDPR compliance easier. Compyl’s compliance automation tools can improve planning, analytics, auditing, platform design, monitoring, and ongoing management. Learn more about customized GDPR compliance for SaaS platform owners by contacting our expert team today.
