Abstract:

This paper investigates economics of customer data, levels and aspects of utilized benefits associated with their economic potential in data economy, levels and aspects of their efficient control for compliance purposes - considering new regulatory framework of European Union and General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR). Compliance costs are significant and necessary to stay in business. This research argues if compliance spending can also generate additional value, in concrete instance associated with processing of customer data. Rather than in technological, it looks in organizational practices for empirical proof. The study examines impact of Customer Data Compliance Capability (CDCC) on Customer Data Utility Capability (CDUC) trough mediating role of Customer-Centric Cross-Functional Integration (CCCFI). The empirical data are collected from data management professionals involved in projects associated with processing of customer data in larger organizations across Europe, Middle East and Africa. As a part of PhD repeated preliminary study, the second group of respondents are recruited from partner network of large data management software vendor. Research findings show that there is mediating effect of CCCFI on CDCC and CDUC. EU GDPR is much- this regulation as competitive advantage, where their associated benefits exceed their costs to comply? As a potential managerial tool we investigate roles of: inter-functional coordination and integration of diverse customer- , external customer process integration where profound understanding of customer processes guides the actions of the observed firms away from lower-level feature development toward higher-level long-term solution planning, data governance participation where there is leverage the existing knowledge of the data about customers that lies within line-of-business and there is capability to assess cross-functional impacts of customer data- related decisions.