Building a business on data trust and transparency is compelling organizations to foster cognitive initiatives that help in recognizing the need for data privacy. Data is transforming day-to-day operations and fundamentally changing the way business is conducted. Successful companies are becoming experts in identifying important and potentially transformational data by incorporating correct analytics and using the right data insights to pursue significant growth opportunities.
Companies are transforming themselves by laying the foundation of their operations on data transparency and trust. The smart organizations of the future are recognizing the data generated from customers and day-to-day operations and implementing it fundamentally to transform the way they operate.
Business intelligence tools are assisting users to identify and understand their data more easily. By analyzing the accumulated historical data and understanding the patterns, anomalies, and mechanisms, organizations are figuring out ways to put things back together. With cyber trust becoming a competitive factor in the marketplace, consumers are also increasingly exercising their legal rights, demanding businesses to protect data about them.
Read more: The Purpose of Data: Harnessing the Power of Data for Growth
Privacy laws are further fueling this demand for trust in data. With new privacy policies in place, organizations are starting to see data integration into more business-focused operations, which is further allowing them to innovate. In addition, there is also a conscious shift to think about data in real-time rather than just historically. However, some companies are struggling to identify the data elements they have, much less list all the ways the data is being used or shared. It is, therefore, critical to establish privacy practices that will prepare them in this regard. The reach of the data regulations into technical data like digital identifiers, IP addresses, or pixel tags will be problematic for many who do not have strong IT and data analytics teams to assist them in understanding their collection, use, and sharing of data.
Companies are majorly focusing on their customers and their data and ensuring that their privacy and cyber-security programs are robust. They are also understanding new privacy liabilities and risks and identifying potential transformational data by applying the correct analytical insights and pursuing significant opportunities for growth.
Gathering Data for a Purpose
To build and foster data trust, organizations need to gather data with a clear purpose.
Gone are the days when organizations would collect all the data they could, including storing the data in perpetuity, even after the individual ceases to be a customer or user. Today, data privacy has become a top priority for enterprises. With penalties for improper data use and storage continuing to escalate, businesses are incorporating measures to avoid the regulatory consequences of non-compliance. However, many businesses are failing to realize that cultivating data privacy for consumers is not just a box to check to mitigate the risks and consequences. Enterprises are establishing a two-way conversation with their consumer on why the collected data is needed and how it will be used in a transparent and ethical way to deliver solutions.
Read more: How are Organizations Benefiting By Turning Data into Purpose?
In the last few years, data discovery has emerged as a mainstream technology that organizations are relying on to find and remediate personal and sensitive information. And with the volumes of data being consumed by businesses every day, they are further establishing frameworks to track where all data resides and how it is approached.
Safeguarding Data to Build Customer Trust
Organizations are incorporating data protection frameworks to regulate the gathering of data as well as to curb its misuse. They are also building social agreements around data gathering and sharing. By building and demonstrating data trust, organizations can profit from the knowledge and insights the data yields, and clients and customers can reap the benefits of better products and services that are tailored to their needs. Businesses that embrace data safeguards will enjoy a major competitive advantage in this realm of data-driven commerce.
But how can they establish and maintain trust?
Building Accountability: Organizations need to identify how and what their customers want them. By using the accumulated data, enterprises can identify as well as ensure that they are exceeding customer expectations.
Transparency: Companies need to put in place policies to communicate data security concerns promptly and fully.
Read more: Data Transparency: An Ultimate Guide to Building Data Trust
Trusted data is considered a new gold in today's emerging global economy. Organizations are realizing the need to turn the corner from gathering data to determining ways to monetize it, along with incorporating measures to build data ecosystems to create new exponential value while safeguarding customer trust. So, while businesses are liberating their data, they are allowing it to circulate within the ecosystem by enforcing rules on who gets to access the data sets. In addition, companies are also striving to ensure that the collected data is accurate, up-to-date, and appropriately contextualized.
Building Trust to Foster a Competitive Advantage
The rise in privacy legislation has heightened consumer awareness while also increasing the demand for data protection. With consumers becoming more careful about data sharing regulations, organizations are stepping up their privacy requirements and are incorporating data protection and privacy frameworks to create a business advantage.
Today, consumers value email content, the identity of email recipients, and the content of downloaded files. For them, privacy protection of their information has become a top priority. Research has highlighted that consumers are more likely to trust a business that asks for data that is relevant to its product or that limits the amount of data that is collected. Consumers have also indicated a higher trust level in organizations that reacted quickly to data breaches and proactively took measures to report them. Organizations that want to come out of the shutdown and gain a competitive edge are beginning to focus on their customers as well as their data, thereby ensuring that the integrated privacy and cyber-security programs are robust and complete.
Read more: How are Organizations Creating and Cultivating a Data-Driven Culture?
Final Thoughts
The foundation of every business, data has steadily revolutionized every industry. It is the driver behind fostering future growth opportunities. However, data is also an organization’s greatest risk and one of its biggest liabilities. With cyber trust becoming a competitive factor, consumers are also exercising their legal rights, compelling businesses to protect the accumulated consumer data.
With consumers becoming more careful about sharing data, organizations are discovering and implementing measures for data protection and privacy to create a business advantage. By implementing effective data management strategies to identify, locate, and secure all the data across the organization, businesses can foster and build trust and transparency with their customers, thereby reaping the benefits of data privacy as a competitive advantage.
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A leading enterprise in Data Analytics, SG Analytics focuses on leveraging data management, analytics, and data science to help businesses across industries to discover new insights and craft tailored growth strategies. Contact us today to make critical data-driven decisions, prompting accelerated business expansion and breakthrough performance.
