GDPR didn’t solve data security problems

Ten months after GDPR came into force there are still issues using and protecting data, according to a Veritas report.

Analysts at Veritas have discovered that customers continue to struggle to find, manage and use their data continues to be a concern with some in the industry blaming it for causing productivity and revenue losses.

Users are unable to get their hands on data quick enough and it slowed productivity, with some wasting up to two hours a day looking for information they needed. The net results were that UK organisations could be losing £1.2 million annually.

There were various reasons why employees could not find data, including the lack of tagging, wading through large volumes of material or they didn’t have access.

Jasmit Sagoo, senior director, Northern Europe, Veritas, said that the introduction of GDPR has not had impact on many firms, partly because so far there seemed to be little consequences for those that failed to abide by the rules.

“My observations are that a lot of organisations have done the bare minimum. GDPR hasn’t solved the problem. Customers haven’t seen any big fines or faced the wrath so organisations are a bit relaxed about that.”

“There has been a carrot and stick approach and if you don’t see the right results then you might see the stick coming out soon. Something has to happen to provide a catalyst for it to be taken more seriously,” he said.

He added that there was an opportunity for the channel to go out pitching tools like intelligent automation to support more precise data management practices.

“There is an opportunity. The future of our society and businesses will become even more data driven,” he added “People are not harnessing its value and protecting it properly and they need to.”

“Organisations have access to a wealth of data that can create significant opportunities if they use it intelligently. Unfortunately, employees waste precious time searching for useful, and potentially business-critical, data in fragmented IT environments,” he said.