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Irish Independent

SMEs ‘need all the help they can get' with GDPR and Dora rules, says SumUp compliance chief

Claire Gillanders added: 'When you're struggling to stay afloat, it can be hard to keep up with new regulations and rules.' Ms Gillanders works with Irish SMEs to help them manage their finances and stay on top of new regulations around issues such as risk management and cyber security. 'It's evident that small businesses are struggling – with the cost of living increasing and the cost of running a business higher than ever. Especially with the really small merchants that we work with, it can be super challenging,' she said. 'These businesses are ready for new regulations, it's just challenging because a lot of them would be one-man bands trying to juggle all the aspects of running a business, which is harder than ever now.' Ms Gillanders expects that AI, GDPR regulations and Dora, which came into effect this year, will be some of the greatest challenges. Dora, or the Digital Operational Resilience Act, are new regulations for tech and financial companies to prevent cyber risks through clear-cut rules around risk management, classification and reporting of cyber incidents. 'My background is in risk management – my philosophy is that you can't manage what you don't know about. For SMEs who have staff, creating awareness around those requirements and the importance of following them can be really important,' she said. 'The biggest impact of getting these regulations right can be the question of trust – customers need to trust the tools you offer them, it's about being able to rely on your payment-service ­provider. If a business fails and that trust is broken, it's really hard to get it back.' In her role, Ms Gillanders supports product-development teams and technology teams in fintech organisations to understand their obligations. She thinks an important step is to ensure companies are aware of the resources available to them. 'We need to focus on helping SMEs understand what resources are already available to them – it's all there online, business owners can network and find those tools that will help them,' she said ADVERTISEMENT 'Going forward, businesses also need to catch up on AI governance. We also need to look at data privacy and security, to ensure that customers are comfortable if they're using these tools to manage compliance.' SumUp's work to bring companies up-to-date with these regulations falls under its 'merchant care' services. Having spent over four years working on the risk-management strategy SumUp offers, Ms Gillanders finds that fintech is changing as a sector. 'The idea of fintech really appeals to me. I've run a small business as a hairdresser, I've worked across different sides of the corporate banking world at the Bank of Ireland, CitiBank and PTSB before I joined SumUp in 2020,' she said. 'I think the sector is changing, there's a real focus on women, and ensuring that diversity and inclusion is here to stay. Ultimately, that helps us stay ahead of the curve.'