IT Governance, the leading provider of data protection solutions for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is pleased to publish its first report on the implementation challenges and milestones for early adopters of the GDPR.
The report can be downloaded at
www.itgovernanceusa.com/gdpr-report.
IT Governance’s GDPR Report is based on responses from 250 information security and data protection professionals and focuses on the issues faced by progressive organizations that have already started working toward achieving GDPR compliance.
The report is designed to provide professionals involved in GDPR compliance projects and senior management with useful insights into how organizations are progressing with GDPR compliance, the challenges they face, and the measures they are adopting.
The survey findings suggest that the main challenge in starting a GDPR compliance project is a lack of expertise to implement the measures required, with most organizations increasingly relying on external support and training to fill in the gaps.
According to the report, although 66% of senior management are aware of the implications of the GDPR, nearly half have not yet appointed a data protection officer (DPO). 41.5% are still in the planning stages. With the GDPR introducing fines of up to 4% of annual turnover or $34 million – whichever is greater – senior management and boards can no longer ignore compliance.
Alan Calder, the founder and CEO of IT Governance, said: “Our research shows that organizations are still planning or have just started to work toward GDPR compliance. The lack of skills and resources required to help organizations achieve GDPR compliance is one of the main challenges they face. Results show that professionals are struggling with conducting risk assessments, creating policies and procedures, and conducting a data protection impact assessment or a data audit.
“Given the current shortage of GDPR expertise, and findings that suggest 57% of organizations will be assigning an existing in-house employee for the role of DPO, it is essential that businesses support professional development and implement a staff awareness program to achieve and manage GDPR compliance and prevent a data breach.”
The report also suggests that although the majority of organizations have allocated no more than $6,200 toward GDPR compliance, 46.4% of participants rely on training courses and a significant number of organizations rely on consultants (28.4%) and GDPR gap analysis products (32.5%) to initiate compliance with the Regulation.
Download the GDPR report
here. Alternatively, organizations interested in starting a GDPR compliance project are encouraged to email
servicecenter@itgovernanceusa.com or call +1 877 317 3454 for more information.