Report: More than 75 percent of US companies concerned about meeting GDPR deadline

Many businesses are still not ready for the May 25, 2018, compliance deadline for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new NetApp survey revealed last week.

GDPR is a European Union legislation that governs any entities that handle the data of EU citizens. Organizations in breach of GDPR can be fined up to 4 percent of their annual global turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater).

The survey was conducted in March by cloud services company NetApp and included responses from 1,106 C-suite, CIOs and IT managers responsible for IT buying decisions in the US, the UK, France and Germany.

Increased awareness of risks but little preparation

Companies are aware of the risks of not complying with GDPR, with more than half (51 percent) of respondents saying that their reputations could be damaged and 35 percent saying that GDPR threatens their existence.

But more than 75 percent said they had some concerns about meeting the deadline.

Even more noteworthy is that a majority (67 percent) of global businesses think they may not meet the GDPR deadline at all, and only 40 percent expressed any degree of confidence even in knowing where customer data is stored.

Questions about GDPR? Download our free guide — The General Data Protection Regulation: GDPR: A Guide for Marketers.