A new study on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and data security by Check Point intensively surveyed about 1,000 CTOs, CIOs, IT, and security managers from businesses in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The survey reported immense benefits for companies post GDPR introduction in 2018.

About 74% of the businesses asserted that the introduction of GDPR has improved consumer trust, and 73% agreed that it has boosted their data security. To adhere to GDPR compliances, approximately 53% of the organizations have developed a GDPR working group. About 45% have allocated a budget to cover its implementation costs, and 41% have employed GDPR consultants. 

GDPR has provided a two-pronged path to protect data and improve security technology to benefit all stakeholders, namely, businesses and consumers. The inception of GDPR has hugely impacted the IT teams. For instance, 41% of the organizations implemented control systems for data access and encryption. Another 41% of the organizations have started imparting employee training to combat data security risks, and 44% of the organizations have adopted the standard security measures.   

According to the survey, the 3 prime benefits of GDPR include assisting businesses to focus on customer data and increase loyalty (45%), improving cybersecurity (44%), and providing a complete 360-degree view on the data processed by businesses (40%).    

Aoife Sexton, Chief Privacy Officer, Trūata, stated that GDPR has largely affected businesses and the security scenario by setting data protection and privacy on a pedestal. GDPR has also raised consumer awareness about their collected and processed data rights.

Many organizations even realize that the GDPR program implemented by them is falling short of a meaningful level in compliance. Businesses are treating the compliance part just as a checkbox rather than an implementation framework.