Almost half of UK marketers are setting money aside for GDPR fines amid pre-deadline jitters
With the deadline for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance in sight, 45% of UK marketers have said their business is setting money aside to cover any potential fines issued by regulators.
Just 26% of respondents said they felt “very confident” in their data governance procedures
According to research published by data management platform Ensighten, which surveyed over 150 UK brand and agency-side marketing decision makers, just 26% of respondents said they felt “very confident” that their data governance procedures were robust enough to be classified as compliant by the looming 25 May deadline.
With less than one month to go until the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) starts enforcing the rules in the UK, 61% of marketers said that they would apply for an extension on the target date if there was an option to do so.
Despite the pre-enforcement jitters and a prevailing attitude of being prepared to be underprepared, the study found that just 7% of marketers said their business had not yet implemented any GDPR-related actions at all.
The legislation will see the most sweeping changes to data protection laws in decades, enforcing files of up to £20m or 4% of annual turnover (whichever is higher) on organisations that fail to meet standards around data protection, processing, consent and more.
Despite obvious concerns, 69% of marketers said they believed GDPR would enhance the accuracy and consistency of their data – something brands like Cancer Research UK and Auto Trader have echoed in sentiment.