Basingstoke: IRIS links with Data Support Agency for GDPR services

To help its 21,000 customers ensure they remain GDPR compliant and deal with evolving data protection regulation, IRIS Accountancy Solutions has partnered with The Data Support Agency. The UK’s leading accountancy solutions provider will offer The Data Support Agency’s GDPR compliance solution branded as IRIS GDPR Advisor to all its customers.  

The IRIS GDPR Advisor consists of a secure bespoke online portal and provides a step-by-step guide to help IRIS’ customers manage and crucially, maintain their GDPR compliance.

Key features include:

• A readiness dashboard displaying actions required to maintain compliance
• A resource library fully maintained by The Data Support Agency, including tools, templates, processes, plus a comprehensive FAQ
• Access to an audit trail and central hub for all compliance documents

IRIS’ customers will also receive support from The Data Support Agency’s certified GDPR practitioners via a UK-based helpdesk. Support will be available via phone, email and online chat.

A survey conducted by IRIS, based at Datchet, revealed that 49% of its customers were potentially facing an inevitable risk in terms of GDPR compliance as they managed their own IT infrastructure, often with no-one providing GDPR expertise.

Sion Lewis, CEO of IRIS Accountancy Solutions, said: “There are a continual number of business issues industry professionals need to manage; from changes in legislation, to succession planning and considering the best way to restructure a practice to evolve beyond compliance services. Amid these challenges, managing data protection is easily pushed down the priority list; we want to help remove this burden by offering a service to manage ongoing compliance. 

“In the same way as businesses outsource HR, bookkeeping or IT support, the partnership with The Data Support Agency enables accountancy professionals to easily access legal data compliance requirements. We are delighted to work with such talented experts and hope this alleviates another crucial issue to help accountants thrive in the digital economy.”

IRIS provided much needed GDPR advice and resources in the run up to the May deadline but recognised the need for an ongoing solution to help them overcome ongoing data protection challenges.

Basingstoke-based The Data Support Agency’s GDPR managed service was chosen by IRIS because, unlike other perceived competitive solutions it covers all, rather than just a few areas of the GDPR legislation.

Nicola Hartland, The Data Support Agency’s CEO and co-founder, said: “We appreciate that few accountancy practices have the time, expertise or resource to dedicate to the GDPR legislation. Our experience in this area, combined with IRIS’ 40-year heritage in the industry will now enable accountancy professionals to access a managed service which has been designed and dedicated to meet their specific compliance requirements.”