GDPR Costs Higher Than Expected; Non-EU Companies Adopt Similar Regulations

New York, NY, November 07, 2018 --(PR.com)-- A survey examining the global impact of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) six months after its roll-out shows the privacy regulation costs more to implement than many had anticipated, and that non-EU companies are adopting similar regulations in anticipation of stronger customer privacy rules in their own locations.

Though the survey showed a generally positive response to GDPR a half year after its implementation, many respondents said their companies paid more than they had anticipated for compliance with the regulation (41 percent). Another 41 percent said they were successful in keeping their costs on budget, and 18 percent said it cost them less to implement than they had expected.

Respondents to the survey, conducted by Survey Monkey for smart card management system leader Versasec, cited ensuring all employees comply with the rules as their biggest concern with GDPR in general (41 percent). 24 percent are worried about being assessed fines for non-compliance, and 19 percent say they are concerned about having to educate non-EU employees on the regulation. Surprisingly, just 16 percent feared losing revenues or customers due to GDPR.

In terms of complying with the new regulation, companies said their challenges centered around educating internal employees (27 percent), not having enough resources to complete the implementation (23 percent), communicating with customers (20 percent) and addressing technical issues in a timely manner (20 percent).

Despite more than half of the survey respondents saying their companies are based in the US and other non-EU countries, 70 percent of them said they are still working to comply with GDPR even though it is not required. About 50 percent noted that whether they have the rules or not in their countries, GDPR remains a good standard security practice. 30 percent also believe that more stringent privacy rules will likely be forthcoming across the globe. What's more, nearly one in four respondents not currently under GDPR control feel adopting the regulations now will help them as they prepare their companies for expansion into Europe.

Even when costs were spot on, compliance was not easy for many of those polled, with 59 percent admitting their companies were not in full compliance by the May 25, 2018 GDPR deadline.

The survey data was collected from information technology during October 2018. Contact Versasec for the complete survey results: https://versasec.com/contact.php

About Versasec
Versasec is the leading provider of state-of-the-art highly secure identity and access management solutions. With its flagship product, vSEC:CMS, Versasec eases the deployment of physical and virtual smart cards for enterprises of any size. Versasec's solutions enable its customers to securely authenticate, issue and manage user credentials more cost effectively than other solutions on the market.

Versasec maintains its mission of providing solutions that are affordable and easy to integrate, coupled with first-class support, maintenance, and training. Versasec customers include HSBC, Tieto, Raiffeisenbank, Hornbach, Daimler, Australia's Department of Defence, European Commission, Qualcomm, eBay, Saudi Aramco, IMF, L'Oreal and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Versasec has offices in Sweden, Dubai, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Versasec's products and services can be purchased and delivered worldwide through an extensive reseller network and via the Versasec website: https://versasec.com. Follow us on Twitter (@versasec), LinkedIn (@versasec) and Facebook (@versasec).