Find out how we support Aviator Hotel as well as Farnborough Airport with outsourced DPO and how hiring us as their external data protection partner has helped them achieve stress-free compliance.

The Challenge

What challenges were you and your team experiencing prior to working with us – what prompted you to seek a solution? When the GDPR came into force, it was such a new thing for many companies, and we were no exception. We didn’t have the expertise or knowledge in-house to tackle policies and procedures and the changes in regulations.

Were there any specific concerns or risks you faced? In general, we wanted to ensure we comply. As a hotel, obviously, the high volume of guest data is a concern, and we wanted to address this quickly to ensure we were following best practices and protecting our data.

Being in the hospitality sector, we have a large supply chain, from things like suppliers of shampoos and tissues for rooms, food, and, in particular, third-party booking systems. As an example, we use a large third party cloud provider for booking in guests, which of course, has to be very secure, as any risks to that could have a knock on effect to our systems and data.

Please describe the reasons you decided to work with us. We are part of Farnborough Airport, which engaged Evalian as it’s outsourced DPO, and we continue to have a successful relationship, so it made sense to use Evalian as ours as well.

Farnborough Airport has been working with Evalian since November 2023, in which time the service provided has proven to be extremely supportive and professional in the following ways:

• Always clear about the services that they offer, their remit and signpost options where requests are out of their services or remit,
• Clients’ priorities and requirements consistently met through scheduled catchups with account manager,
• Confidence in the expertise of the Evalian team, in particular of the lead Principal Data Protection Consultant (Data Protection Officer ‘DPO’).

We’d like to thank Evalian for their support, expertise, integrity and for making it a pleasant overall working relationship.

– Farnborough Airport

Although I wasn’t involved in the procurement process, it was likely a combination of factors such as the cost, the overall package, and the clear expertise within the team.

Did you have any expectations going into the process? I have had a couple of interactions with a company that provided data protection services to us prior to us working with Evalian. We felt it wasn’t quite the right support for us, they weren’t as proactive as we’d hoped and weren’t asking the right questions. It felt more like a solicitor service.

Solution

Were there any challenges you found along the way, and how did you feel we or your consultant helped to support you through that? So far, we’ve had no challenges, it’s been a smooth process. Our Evalian data protection consultant, Sandy, is brilliant. She understands our tempo, the communication is good, and it’s been very positive.

Impact

What has been the most significant achievement for your business facilitated by using our services? We have definitely saved time internally, It’s taken the burden away from us, leaving us time to concentrate on our day-to-day business.

We now have total confidence knowing that we are taking the right steps and that our Evalian consultant is always on top of things. We know we’re less likely to suffer a breach, and if we do, we know it will be handled quickly and effectively. We have confidence we’re complying with the GDPR and at no risk of penalties.

What would you say to any other directors of finance within the hospitality or aviation sector who are considering a data protection service? I think people can underestimate the importance of GDPR compliance, when everything is fine, it’s not necessarily thought about. But when things go wrong – particularly within the hospitality sector – GDPR is the area you really don’t want to go wrong, given that our whole business relies on reputation.

The impact on your organisation when it comes to matters like this can be huge. If we haven’t followed the correct procedures or are in breach of GDPR compliance, it wouldn’t take long for customers to lose confidence, and it would be a huge cost to the business.

I think many organisations probably treat GDPR as a tick box exercise, not understanding the scale of the impact a breach could have on business. So I’d always encourage organisations like ours to seriously consider outsourced DPO if they haven’t got those in-house experts.

How do you see our service supporting you in the long term? We are very happy with our current set-up with Evalian; the needs we have are always met on time and professionally. If we expand and have more policy changes, we know Evalian could support us with that in future.