Customer identity and access management platform Gigya Inc., soon to be owned by SAP SE, has launched the Gigya Enterprise Preference Manager, a new product designed to assist organizations build customer trust and address newly emerging privacy regulations.

Available starting today, Enterprise Preference Manager is said to offer a complete solution for centrally managing all aspects of consent settings and customer preferences such as social interests, brand affinities and product tastes. The platform records and manages the full range of engagement, from a customer accepting terms of service at initial registration to their opting into marketing communications.

Through the platform, customers can control their experience through a “preference center” that allows them to review, change, delete or export any profile data, as well as withdraw consent to agreements or communication preferences they have given to an organization. The features allow enterprise users to comply with the European Union’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation and other emerging global privacy laws.

Features include preference and consent to capture, allowing organizations to automate and record consent agreements; version control, allowing enterprise users to keep up-to-date records of consent for all customers complete with a historical record; and consent enforcement, a tool that assures that preference records are synchronized across downstream marketing in all brands and channels.

“We’re entering a new era where customers demand respect for their online privacy and expect relevant, personalized communications when they do agree to share personal information,” Patrick Salyer, chief executive officer of Gigya, said in a statement. “Gigya Enterprise Preference Manager is designed to help organizations do the right thing – both in building trust through transparent interactions with customers and by providing the features and functionality to meet regional data privacy laws and regulations.”

The new cloud-based service comes with apt timing given that the EU General Data Protection Regulation is due to come into force on May 25, 2018. An NTT Security report published in August found many companies are simply not prepared for GDPR, with results varying by country. Only slightly over 50 percent of companies in mainland Europe were ready for the implementation, but only 39 percent of U.K. companies identified the law as a compliance concern.

Although GDPR is a European regulation, companies outside the EU that trade within its borders are also required to comply with it. “Outside the EU, many mistakenly perceive the GDPR as only — or most likely to be — applicable to EU companies,” the NTT Security report noted. “Awareness levels are lowest in the U.S., where only a quarter of respondents believed the GDPR will affect their organization, followed by Australia (26 percent), Hong Kong (29 percent) and Singapore (33 percent).”

Image: Gigya