Cisco has warned that many customers are concerned the tech they buy will not adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming in May.
For those who came in late, GDPR is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU.
It was thought that the rush to become compliant would create a bit of a bonanza for those selling security, data management and authentication tools.
Cisco has discovered that far from rushing into buying fresh technology, two thirds of those businesses quizzed were reporting sales delays because of customer data privacy concerns.
Cisco’s Privacy Maturity Benchmark Study found that some of the public sector verticals, including health and government, are suffering the longest delays because of the stricter standards they are working towards.
The Cisco study also exposed the level of losses with what the vendor termed as “privacy-immature” companies being hit the hardest.
A lot of the concerns stem from doubts that products and services purchased will have the privacy protections that are required under GDPR.
As well as delaying spending it also reveals the levels of confusion that still exist around just what will be required to become compliant.
Research from Clearswift looked at the preparations for GDPR in the UK, US, Germany and Australia found that only 21 percent of middle management felt they were ready for the compliance regulations.
The firm found a disconnect between the board and middle management, with the more senior executives more optimistic about the ability to take right to be forgotten requests.
