The Future of Privacy - Why Using and Protecting Personal Data Is a Vital Business Imperative

The Future of Privacy:
Why Using and Protecting Personal
Data Is a Vital Business Imperative

© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
What is the future of privacy and is it possible to have privacy in the era of big data? In a
recent conversation with data leaders, we discussed the value of data, why it’s important
to business success, what might be in store for the future and more.
The Future of Privacy - Why Using and
Protecting Personal Data Is a Vital Business
Imperative

Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
While some have expressed that privacy is dead in the era of big data, data leaders I
recently spoke with about the future of privacy believe there’s nothing further from the
truth.
In our discussion, Aoife Sexton, Chief Privacy Officer of Truata; Caroline Carruthers, Chief
Executive of Carruthers and Jackson and co-author of The Chief Data Officer’s Playbook
and Data Driven Business Transformation; and Roberto Maranca, Data Excellence Vice
President of Schneider Electric pondered the importance of personal data, why it
matters and why data privacy is a vital part of business in the future.
The Future of Privacy - Why Using and
Protecting Personal Data Is a Vital Business
Imperative

The Value of Data
“There’s been exponential growth in data even in the past couple of years. The European
Commission published a data strategy earlier this year and they projected a 530% increase
in global data volumes from 2018-2025. That’s a growth from 33 zettabytes to 175
zettabytes.
In terms of value being ascribed to that data, they projected for 2025 within the EU the
data economy would be worth $829 billion up from $301 billion in 2018. There can be no
doubt about it, big data means big business and big value is attached to that,” Aoife
Sexton explained.
This growth in big data sets can reveal valuable insights. Those insights can drive data-
based decision-making and ignite innovation.
“The data economy that is emerging is such a disruptive, changing force for our world. The
ability for us to observe much more finer, granular and a much more complete data set
will allow us to optimize our resources, allow us to feed all the people we need to feed
and solve other issues,” said, Roberto Maranca.

Data Privacy is Vital for Business
As individuals access online services as they go about everyday life, they are building an
expansive digital footprint that is accessible to the businesses that provide those services.
Whether a person visits a corporate website or uses an internet-of-things device, the “fee
for service” (whether they realize it or not) is they are providing access to their valuable
data.
The companies that provide these services must be trustworthy caretakers of this
information. While this is a requirement that’s increasingly mandated by regulations such
as GDPR, many consumers are now informed enough to demand it.
As Aoife Sexton said, “Companies would be well-advised to take privacy seriously and to
listen to what their consumers are asking for in terms of a demonstration by these
companies that they are acting responsibly with consumer’s data.”

In the Global Consumer State of Mind Report commissioned by Truata, independent
market research firm Arlington Research conducted 8,000 interviews with consumers in
the UK, France, India and the United States and found that 77% of global consumers agree
that data privacy is essential to them and 78% have taken one or more steps to reduce
their digital footprint.
And critical to the bottom line, 63% of consumers say they would stop buying from brands
if they don’t demonstrate to consumers that they are being responsible with their personal
data.
So, while data privacy safeguards are important to meet compliance requirements it’s
increasingly critical to building consumer trust in a brand that ultimately can build
business success.If your company wants to use consumer data, then trust has to be a vital
element of your plan. Consumers will share data—today’s valuable currency—if you build
trust.

We’re still very much in a Wild West phase, where companies still try to get their hands
on customer data in any way they possibly can without necessarily telling their consumers
what they are collecting and how they are using it.
“The really key takeaway {from the report} is that consumers care greatly. People are
starting to learn more that they have the ability to control. Privacy is something they
should be taking seriously.
We see lots of examples where maybe companies haven’t been as open and transparent
as we want them to be and would like them to be and what that’s generated is a level of
distrust which I think feeds back into the report and you can see that coming through very
clearly,” said Caroline Carruthers.

How Do We Strike the Balance? Using Valuable
Data and Protecting Privacy
“Companies can no longer treat data protection as some back-office compliance issue. It’s
really a board level, C-level strategic issue for companies. It is possible to use data to gain
valuable insights to provide better products and solutions while also respecting privacy. I
don’t think it’s a binary choice of either/or, I don’t think it’s a zero-sum game,” said
Sexton. “Just because you can do something with data doesn’t mean you should,” she
added.
If they haven’t already done so, companies must have proactive strategies and programs
that will raise customer trust levels over time.

How Do We Strike the Balance? Using Valuable
Data and Protecting Privacy
This also requires that companies follow ethical practices to be excellent data leaders and
to stay in business. “Excellence that’s based on principles. One of the principles has to be
ethical treatment and responsible usage of data,” Mr. Maranca said.
Ms. Carruthers added, “Transparency without clear clarity isn’t good enough. We have to
genuinely want to be clear and straightforward in how we tackle the issue. Very simple
with the language we use with people is very important.” She explained data literacy is
very important and we need to be helping people understand in laypeople’s terms how
and why data is being used.

What’s the Future of Data Privacy?
If privacy is not dead, what does data privacy look like in the future?
Ms. Carruthers said, “The key word for me when it comes to privacy in the future is choice.
Privacy will be incredibly important in the future. Our data will become a currency. We can
choose the level of privacy that we are happy to live with for the service we want.”
While Mr. Maranca acknowledged it is complex, he believes, “You need to equip yourself
to be a better business while you’re compliant.”
Since our new technologies are ubiquitous and pervasive, they represent a step-change
from what has happened in the past. This is why, Ms. Sexton believes, “Privacy is going to
be even more important in the future. Safeguarding privacy and human autonomy is
going to be one of the most important challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution. How
do we maximize the benefits of technology and big data while also minimizing the
potential harm?”

What’s the Future of Data Privacy?
I expect that personal data will become much more important and much more valuable.
We will move to the world of much more granular data. Google is already talking about
micro-moments where they will be able to know what products we want right when we
need them.
I expect there will be more mass personalization. But this will require companies to earn
the trust of their customers by being transparent. This involves giving the consumer the
choice to delete their data and control their data. There is a real need for a two-way
relationship.
And, as with any relationship, it starts with trust.

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

Title
Subtitle
Be the FIRST to receive news,
articles, insights and event
updates from Bernard Marr & Co
straight to your inbox.
Signing up is EASY! Simply fill out
the online form and we’ll be in
touch!

BernardMarr
hello@bernardmarr.com
www.bernardmarr.com

The Future of Privacy - Why Using and Protecting Personal Data Is a Vital Business Imperative

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Plus de Bernard Marr

Plus de Bernard Marr (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

The Future of Privacy - Why Using and Protecting Personal Data Is a Vital Business Imperative