Building trust in data with consumers

Modern customer experiences thrive on data. Knowing your customer, remembering past interactions and preferences, and using gathered intelligence to inform strategy is what separates market leaders from followers. Regardless of the industry or sector, it makes business far easier and productive.

A whole economy of digital services exists around this process, creating tailored experiences based on what resonates most with the end customer. At the heart of it all sits valuable data. IT leaders mine its value for the business. Cyber criminals also know its value and take advantage. Sitting in-between: customers, who believe (hope?) their data is safe, secure, and respected.

But reality may be different. Whether for malign or benign reasons, data gets compromised. Be it ransomware, data theft, human error or misconfiguration, the impact is the same: when data is stolen or exposed, customers’ trust takes a huge hit and some never come back.

A study for Veeam of UK consumers¹ examined attitudes and concerns respondents had about how their personal data is handled by the organisations they deal with every day. It explored the levels of trust in those same organisations to do the right thing.

Cyber attacks are mainstream

The last 18 months have seen cyber attack after cyber attack hitting the headlines. Security vendor Check Point found 93% more ransomware attacks occurred in the first half of 2021. No doubt fuelled by accelerated digital transformations as the  pandemic disrupted work, domestic and buying behaviours – and businesses scrambled to make data available and accessible to stakeholders. 47% of consumers noticed the increase in cyber crime and attempts at data theft, .60%  feel concerned about their data’s security.

Such concerns mean consumers are taking decisive actions.  Over half (59%) would refuse to share data with a company that has experienced a ransomware attack, while 80% would stop using a firm’s services if they suspect they aren’t doing enough to protect their data adequately.

Little wonder that they want to know what organisations are doing to protect their data. Businesses need to be similarly passionate about keeping data safe and a lot more proactive about telling customers just how they’re managing the situation.

Clarity aids understanding

Where to start? Be clear about why customers are being asked to share their data, and explain the measures taken to stay compliant with data protection regulations like GDPR. Share more details on what that detail is being used for, the ways it might be used and what the benefits are for the customers themselves.

Too often these details are either hidden in dense legal terms or are too vague. 57% of UK customers said they have no idea what companies are doing with the personal information they give. One-third (36%) may feel they’ve experienced some benefits, but an overwhelming majority do not.

Consumers are giving their data away and firms aren’t living up to the promises made in terms of benefits or information flow – that should change.

Of course, no one wants to give away the minute details of their data protection strategy, but it doesn’t take much to reassure customers of the care, attention and protection being wrapped around their data. A little insight into the work being done here will work wonders to tackle any trust issues.

Digitally native consumers get this, digital immigrants are getting savvier by the day. Businesses must demonstrate not just that they’re taking these concerns seriously, but that they’ve been doing so for years.   

Words are great, but actions speak louder. Businesses must also back their words with demonstrable action. Improving digital resiliency and ensuring critical operational data is always available (but in a secure manner) is essential.

Running a business in a world with a potent and evolving threat landscape, in marketplaces that are borderless and hyper-competitive cannot happen effectively without modern data protection strategies.

A new cyber culture

As with physical security, cyber-security is a matter of combining the right tools with best practices – the 3-2-1-1-0 rule. Implement offsite and offline backups with:

• at least three copies of important data
• on at least two different types of media
• with at least one off-site
• and one offline
• with zero unverified backups or backups completing with errors.

Any modern data protection strategy must be compatible with today’s business landscape - one increasingly leveraging cloud-native environments.

Best practice means training employees in exercising good digital hygiene, in identifying phishing emails and links. Build them into regularly tested business continuity plans, so everyone is clear on their role should a disaster or outage – physical or digital – occur.

With the right approach, data protection can be far more than a box ticking exercise. Not only is it a basic requirement for a modern business to have,  but it also remains an important foundation to restoring trust in the digital economy.

Dan Middleton, Regional VP for UK & Ireland at Veeam Software

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com

¹Veeam worked alongside Vitreous World in late 2021 to conduct as survey of 2000 UK consumers that was nationally representative for age, gender, region, social grades, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability