With two-thirds of global organizations ramping up compliance to European Union data privacy regulations, the UAE faces growing urgency to adopt information management solutions this summer for compliance and better business decision-making.

In less than one year, by 25 May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) go into effect. Any organization that does business in or holds data on residents in the European Union needs to be able to secure, identify, and delete personal data. If not, organizations face fines of 20 million Euros or 4 percent of revenue.

Worldwide, the vast majority of organizations (86 percent) are concerned about meeting GDPR guidelines, and two-thirds (65 percent) of organizations are working with third parties on GDPR compliance, according to the recent “2017 GDPR Report” by information management company VERITAS.

“Every UAE organization that does business in the European Union or with its residents – from retail start-ups to multi-national banks – will be affected by European Union data privacy regulations. As many UAE organizations do not know if they are GDPR compliant, this summer is vital to begin their compliance, or risk falling behind and facing penalties,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO at UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider Condo Protego.

Many industry experts believe the European Union regulations will form the basis of data privacy regulations in additional countries and regions such as the GCC.

Supporting UAE organizations in their data privacy regulatory compliance, Condo Protego has seen strong success in deploying the recently-launched VERITAS 360 Data Management for GDPR solution.

With a properly implemented solution, organizations can store, locate, and search their corporate data; minimize the amount of time they store the data; and uncover data breaches that need to be disclosed to the European Union government authorities within 72 hours.

“UAE organizations should work closely with channel partners on a data platform and upskill staff on GDPR compliance. With better data insights, organizations can also gain more informed decision-making, faster time to market, and enhanced customer trust,” added Savitha Bhaskar.