The GDPR (General Data Regulation Protection) has already came into effect from 25 th May 2018. The new data protection regulations will be applicable to all the organizations under European Union.
What is GDPR?
GDPR is a new regulation that will need companies to protect the information and data of EU subjects, and those who are dealing in any services with the citizens of EU.
It was first approved and adopted by the parliament of EU in 2016, and generally came into action last week.
The companies that fall under EU countries will have to comply with strict rules around the collection and usage of customer data. They’ll have to tell the users how they handle and store the user data including IP information, cookies, name, contact or address.
The new data regulations by GDPR might sound a scary task. To help the users comply with GDPR, WHMCS released version 7.5 with new features and functionalities. Following is an outlook on the new GDPR tools for WHMCS.
1. Automation feature for data retention policy
According to GDPR, the companies will have to provide their customers the right to erase all their personal data submitted on the website. On that front, WHMCS 7.5 includes a new automation feature for data retention policy.
Using this feature, the WHMCS site administrators will be able to define a period of time for which the records of the client will be kept stored. The client records can be configured to be deleted automatically after the defined number of months with no invoice of transaction history.
WHMCS admins can enable this feature by going to Setup >> Automation Settings.
2. Exports feature for exporting client data
Another new right for customers is that they can request the site administrator to export all their data from the site that has been gathered by WHMCS and the participating plugins.
To easily fulfil the data export requests of customers, WHMCS latest version has a new export feature. This feature enables admins to export the individual customer data in structured JSON format. The export feature supports all the personal information of customer, including profile, service, billing, and ticket history.
For this feature, visit Reports tab >> under Exports heading, click Client button.
3. Opt-in/out feature for emails
This feature enables admins to provide customers the options to opt-in and opt-out from the marketing and promotional emails sent to them if they submit contact details during signup or checkout.
It also allows choosing how and when to ask users to give consent. To enable this feature, visit Setup >> General Settings >> Other.
Hence, when any mass marketing email is sent, only the users who opted-in will receive it.
4. New marketing email capabilities
In addition to the opt-in/out at functionality during signup and checkout for the marketing emails, WHMCS 7.5 now also allows admins to send URLs with the marketing emails, using which the subscribers can opt-out if they no longer want to receive the emails. This is much like unsubscribe button, but is aimed at receiving consent of users.
Further, the customers can manage the newsletter subscription status any time through the WHMCS client area.
5. Record consent history
WHMCS has introduces a new consent log feature that records all the consents of customers whenever they make changes to their consents. The consent record is an integral part of GDPR compliance. The site admins are supposed to have the history of changes in consents.
With this feature, the date and time of consent change, the name of user, and IP address will be recorded.
To access this feature, visit Profile tab within the admin client’s profile.
Suggested reading: HOW YOU CAN BOOST YOUR BUSINESS BY INTEGRATING MAILCHIMP INTO WHMCS?
Earlier this month, WordPress to had released GDPR features with its latest version, which allows the site owners to comply with new data regulations.