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GDPR progress slow among Irish SMEs

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5 December 2017

Less than two thirds (61%) of Irish small to medium enterprises (SME) have started their compliance journey for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), despite the 25 May 2018 deadline, now less than 180 days away.

A new survey of 175 SMEs for Wizuda, by Amárach Research, has found that while 69% of those surveyed said that GDPR compliance is a top priority, more than half (57%) of organisations admit to using email to send personal information.

Some 61% of SMEs said they were reviewing existing customer data transfer solutions, with the vast majority (80%) seeing IT as a major stakeholder in GDPR efforts.

A strong majority (69%) of SMEs regard themselves as data processors, with more than a third (37%) admitting to having been the subject of a data audit before. However, more than half (55%) believe they may be audited within the next 18 months.

“Whilst it is worrying that less than two thirds of Irish SMEs have actually started their own project, it is good to see that 80% of those surveyed see IT as a major stakeholder in their GDPR compliance programme” said Danielle Cussen, managing director, Wizuda.

“Both the OPDC and data controllers will be looking to ensure that all data processors are GDPR compliant, so we would expect the number of Irish companies planning for a data protection audit continuing to increase in the run up to May 2018.”

 

TechCentral Reporters

 

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