So says an independent study carried out for EfficientIP, a provider of global DDI services, which claims that globally, the majority of businesses are prepared for the new Regulation, with 72% believing they will have all required GDPR compliance processes in place in time.
North America is the most confident region in the world, with American and Canadian organisations saying they will be prepared at 84% and 75% respectively.
Even so, despite the ongoing Brexit negotiations and uncertainty looming over the enforcement and effectiveness of the EU GDPR regulation on local businesses, the UK is the most confident nation in Europe, with 74% saying they will be ready by deadline day.
In comparison, Spanish businesses are a close second to the UK at 73%, dropping to 66% of French respondents. German organisations are the least confident in Europe at 61%, even though the German government has already passed GDPR into domestic law.
Businesses worldwide believe there will be a variety of benefits they will gain from being GDPR compliant. Nearly half of all organisations surveyed, at 46%, say the most important benefit is gaining customer trust to handle sensitive data; 31% cite enhanced brand awareness; while 18% of respondents felt compliance will increase customer loyalty.
The report says that, on average, global organisations have so far spent $1.6 million (£1.1 million) on GDPR compliance.
Globally, European businesses have spent the most on average on compliance with Germany leading at $1.9 million (£1.4 million), followed by the UK with $1.8 million (£1.3m) with France completing the top three at $1.7 million (£1.2 million).
Meanwhile, small and medium business have spent on average $1.3 million (£893,000) so far on compliance, whereas large businesses have spent up to $5 million (£3.5 million).
Commenting on the study figures, EfficientIP senior vice-president of strategy Herve Dhelin said: "As organisations enter the final straight of GDPR compliance, 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."
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