Interview: heyData, our Digital Trust Hero in June!

Today we are proud to introduce our next Digital Trust Hero: heyData!

heyData is a consulting company specialized in data protection. Their goal is to help all companies, no matter how big or from which industry, in the field of data protection and make their customers’ lives easier by providing them with tailored industry solutions. One of the founders of heyData, Miloš Djurdjević, tells us here in the interview how he came up with the idea of heyData, what makes it so special and what we can do for our data protection.

Hi Miloš Djurdjević!To start with, tell us 3 facts about you.

3 Facts about me — a very broad question, but I’ll try to narrow it down in a business context.

• I am always looking to make the lives of our customers easier. Data protection in my previous jobs was often a tedious issue that took a lot of time and when we develop our product today, I always try to ask myself: Will it be faster? Do I understand what is wanted from me in the shortest possible time? Do I have a feeling of affinity for the product?
• I always try to find new ways to solve problems. Treading “beaten paths” is really not my strength and therefore I feel very comfortable as a founder in this always flexible and changing situation. Therefore, I am always open to suggestions from my employees to approach topics in a new way and to find new solutions for topics that are becoming more and more complex.
• No stagnation! This is related to the previous topic — I always want to experience something new and I am always looking for a challenge — hence the way to found heyData.

What inspired you to found heyData?

Two topics made me do it. One is that I have seen the potential for optimization in many startups myself and then always wondered why I don’t do it myself and a feeling of “now or never” — I just felt it is the right time to get started and with clear mind, diligence and the right amount of luck a model will be found in which I and the team can develop.

What advantage does heyData offer companies?

As I said before, the topic of data protection or compliance is still considered a nuisance, if not a business blocker, by most entrepreneurs, but times are changing. It is becoming increasingly important to employees, customers, partners and prospects whether a company meets and ultimately exceeds these standards and thus such companies need support. In order not to leave the field to corporations that have built up large departments in a very short time, we wanted to offer small and medium-sized companies a simple solution with the help of digitalization. This combines several relevant points in one: it is simple, you are guided through the process, you have a transparent cost structure and you have a partner who acts as a contact for all issues in this area — the perfect solution to fully dedicate yourself to the actual business again.

Why do you think it is important to deal with the topic of data protection? What is particularly important to you when dealing with sensitive data?

Privacy is a topic that we find important because it has far-reaching implications for every individual. Whether it’s the recording of relevant movement data as the Corona App does, the safeguarding of medical data by insurance companies, or purchasing behavior in e-commerce, data is key to all of these developments. In our opinion, the individual must understand this, and this is best done when workplaces or service providers implement this topic with the appropriate seriousness — this is the only way to create a holistic awareness and, ultimately, maturity in this area. Data is not like oil that has to be protected as a resource, but each individual must understand its use in itself and have the opportunity to decide for themselves what should ultimately happen with their own data. With our solution, we want to contribute to this transparency.

What is your recommendation to companies? What simple tips can they use to better protect data?

Expertise in data protection is always required here, which often doesn’t exist within the company or has to be built up separately, which is a lengthy process and eats away at resources. It is best to get really good advice to avoid data mishaps and also to avoid fines. As a top 3, I would say:

1. Create an overview of technical and organizational measures

and keep them up to date

2. Conclude order processing contracts with third party providers.

3. Create a processing directory and keep it up to date

And last but not least comes our popular closing question: if you could spend an evening with one famous person, who would it be and why?

If time and space didn’t matter, my favorite would be with Nikola Tesla. His visions and experiments still influence the current developments of mankind today and to have such a clear picture of the future and the possibilities of the future in the time in which he lived is unique in my eyes. For this reason, this would be an unforgettable evening that will hopefully lead me to my very own inspirations that I have not considered or even been able to think about before.

Thank you very much for the interesting interview, Miloš Djurdjević!

With our monthly series “Digital Trust Heroes”, we want to give innovative and privacy-oriented startups and companies a digital stage to help present their vision, their project and the people behind it and make them more visible.

Our focus is clearly on companies that, like us, deal with topics such as data protection, data security, digital identity and the secure handling of personal data and want to make the digital world a little bit better.

Our goal is to create a trustworthy ecosystem of pan-European “Digital Trust Heroes” who want to enable people to live a comfortable and secure life on the Internet.

Learn more about our June 2021 Digital Trust Hero, heyData at https://en.heydata.eu/

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