How long can we store customer data?

There is no general time limit. As a general rule, information must be deleted once the purpose for which it was collected has been fulfilled.

Different data, different lifespans

Invoice documentation must be retained for five years under the Bookkeeping Act. Marketing consents remain valid until they are withdrawn. Notes from a sales process that ended six years ago generally no longer need to be retained.

Set a retention period for each data type

A single set of rules for the entire CRM system will be either too strict or too lenient. Divide the data into customer data, communication history, marketing data, and case data.

Write it down

The supervisory authority asks for the retention periods, not whether you have considered them. A table listing the data type, retention period, and justification is sufficient.

Automate deletion

Manual deletion does not get done. Set up jobs that delete or anonymize data when the retention period expires, and log that this was done.