British businesses throw £1.3 million to ensure GDPR compliance - survey

Organisations in Germany have spent even more

British companies have spent £1.3 million, on average, to ensure compliance with the EU's forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation - which comes into force in just 99 days.

Nevertheless, UK organisations are not the biggest spenders. According to a survey by EfficientIP, the UK trails behind Germany when it comes to spending on GDPR compliance.

Overall, 72 per cent of global companies believe that they are prepared for GDPR. Meanwhile, 74 per cent of British firms say they are confident about complying with the new law - the biggest percentage in Europe.

The US and Canada are the most confident countries in the world, with 84 per cent of US firms and 75 of Canadian claiming to be ready for the law when it comes in on 25 May.

Britain is Europe's most confident country, but Spain comes in at second place. Around 73 per cent of Spanish firms have indicated that they are ready for the regulation.

German organisations are the least confident out of their European counterparts, with just 61 per cent of them agreeing that they are prepared for GDPR. France is at 66 per cent.

The majority of respondents agreed that the biggest impact of GDPR will be improved customer trust. An estimated 46 per cent of firms said that this was one of the most important benefits of GDPR.

As well as this, 31 per cent of firms see enhanced brand awareness as being another big value, followed by customer loyalty at 18 per cent.

Firms are spending up to $5 million (£3.5 million) to become compliant with GDPR, and the report claims that European organisations are leading the way.

In Europe, Germany has spent the most at $1,969,000 (£1,424,000), with organisations in Britain spending an average of $1,798,000 (£1,300,000), while companies in France reported an average of $1,781,000 (£1,288,000).

Most of the respondents said firewall and endpoint protections are not enough, with 38 per cent agreeing that DNS analysis and monitoring systems are also crucial.

Herve Dhelin, senior vice president of strategy at EfficientIP, said: "As organisations enter the final straight of GDPR compliance with 100 days to go, our research shows they have never been so close to regulatory compliance.

"There is still some work to do, but it is encouraging to see nearly three-quarters of businesses are ready and most organisations see monitoring and analysis of DNS traffic, not firewalls nor endpoints, is the best way of preventing data breaches."