Data security has become of utmost importance for the EU business enterprises after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has come into effect. Across enterprises, regardless of the approach of data management – cloud or on-premise, GDPR observes data privacy, albeit in different ways. GDPR assessment tools are witnessing increasing adoption as enterprises focus on complying with complex regulatory requirements.
While only a few of the organizations have fully identified the processes involving personal data misuse, rest are yet to fathom the unidentified data pockets hovering in the boundary of GDPR compliance. In the race to maintain the market reputation and avoid heavy penalties, the quest for absolute data control is on the rise. Further, flowing at light speed, unstoppable data sharing has become vital in enhancing the operational efficiency. Efforts to achieve a trade-off between data control and operational efficiency through compliance has been beneficial for the GDPR assessment tools market and is expected to gain a revenue worth US$ 36,772.6 Million by 2028, as per the market valuation by Fact.MR.
The GDPR assessment tools function at multiple stages of data management to ensure regulatory compliance. According to the services offered by the enterprises, different GDPR compliance needs, such as mapping the data flow and preventing data misuse, are addressed by the GDPR assessment tools. As the post-GDPR enforcement period is marked by the enterprises trying to understand the consequences of the GDPR and becoming GDPR-compliant, a prominent adoption of the readiness and accountability tools is being observed. Moreover, although data processor and data controller both equally abide by the regulation, due to their central figure in data security, data controllers are estimated to show a significant reliance on the privacy impact assessment tools.
Every industry dealing with the personal data of the EU citizens has to comply with the GDPR. Flourishing in the arena of data science, the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) industry is projected to share a significant portion of the GDPR assessment tools market. According to their exposure to European data subjects, BFSI industry players are actively seeking a way out of heavy penalties, thus, reporting the highest market share among all end users and revenue generation worth US$ 7,170.7 Million by 2028 end. Healthcare and Discrete & Process Manufacturing industries that handle the growing pile of patient and stakeholder data, respectively, are expected to follow the BFSI in acquiring the GDPR compliance with the assistance of tools.
Although larger enterprises are making considerable investments to achieve GDPR compliance, SMEs are still bemused by the complexity of the regulation. Significant capital investment in the on-premise deployment of GDPR assessment tools has been observed by large enterprises, contributing to over 88% of the market share in 2017. On the other hand, the cloud has been helping the enterprises, particularly SMEs to maximize their operational efficiencies by providing affordability, scalability and business agility. With the growing cloud adoption among proliferating SMEs, cloud-based deployment of GDPR assessment tools is expected to expand two-fold in terms of market share from 9.1% to 27.8% during 2018 – 2028.
The current scenario of the GDPR assessment tool providers presents a divergent scenario. Industry titans such as Microsoft, SAS, Softcat and Entit have a strong hold on on-premise deployment, whereas IBM, Commvault, Veritas and Mimecast are offering leading solutions through cloud-based deployment. Owing to their large key clients from different booming industries, these industry players are the leaders in the Europe GDPR assessment tools market and offer GDPR readiness automation and threat detection and prevention software. As multiple organizations are opting for cloud technology to reduce IT infrastructure cost, GDPR has induced a sense of optimism and urgency where cloud vendors are looking to capitalize on the opportunities emerging in the post-GDPR era.
Inappropriate handling of consumer data is evident with multiple organizations halting their EU affairs and others paying heavy penalties post-GDPR enforcement. Amidst the complexity of regulations and threat of intense penalty, EU GDPR is an awakening call for business organizations to streamline their data security and privacy policies. With many more yet to comply with the regulation, GDPR assessment tools can play a pivotal role in the future development of enterprises by ensuring a standard, reliable and harmonized network of secure data sharing.
By Santosh Kumar
