BOSTON — Cytrio published the findings from its research on the state of companies’ readiness to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The research indicates 91% of companies across all verticals, states, and business size that must comply with CCPA are still not prepared to meet the requirements. Further, 94% of companies that must comply with GDPR are ill-prepared to meet the requirements. 

“The majority of companies that must meet CCPA, CPRA, and GDPR compliance have a long way to go, and with enforcements looming, many are exposed to compliance enforcement fines and private-right of-action,” said Vijay Basani, founder and CEO of Cytrio. “Through our ongoing research, we aim to educate the market on the importance of data privacy rights compliance, the need to enable consumers to easily exercise their data privacy rights, and how companies can build trust with their customers leveraging automated Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) submission and response solutions.”

During the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, Cytrio researched 1,525 companies, bringing the total number of U.S. mid- to large-size companies with revenues from $25 million to more than $5 billion researched to 8,270 since Q3 2021. Cytrio’s Q1 research found 90% of companies were not fully compliant with CCPA and CPRA DSAR requirements, and 95% of companies were using error-prone and time-consuming manual processes for GDPR compliance.

The Q2 research also revealed that more than 50% of companies that acknowledge in their privacy policy they need to comply with CCPA do not provide a mechanism for consumers to exercise their data privacy rights. Companies are slowly shifting up in the compliance maturity curve with 3.5% of companies that were using manual processes in Q1 2022 moved to compliance automation solutions, while 6% of noncompliant companies moved to a manual process to begin compliance with CCPA. 

Other observations from the Q2 research include the following.

• A total of 22% of companies stated they need to comply with both CCPA and GDPR — an almost 6% increase from the Q1 2022 cohort.
• The trend of larger companies (1,000-plus employees) deploying automated solutions at a slightly higher rate than smaller companies (less than 1,000 employees) continues, though the vast majority are unprepared for compliance.
• Though CCPA is agnostic to industry verticals, the top three most compliant verticals remained the same from the end of Q1 2021 to the end of Q2 2022 — business services, retail, and finance — making up 55% of the companies researched. 
• B2C companies are more likely to deploy an automation solution and are better prepared to comply with CCPA data privacy rights. More than 52% of B2B companies do not provide a mechanism for consumers to exercise their data privacy rights compared to 47% of B2C companies.  

Data privacy rights are becoming more urgent as the expansive CPRA that goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, requires companies to deploy an effective and scalable CCPA compliance management solution.