Eskenzi PR ad banner Eskenzi PR ad banner
  • About Us
Saturday, 30 September, 2023
IT Security Guru
Eskenzi PR banner
  • Home
  • Features
  • Insight
  • Channel News
  • Events
    • Most Inspiring Women in Cyber 2022
  • Topics
    • Cloud Security
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Data Protection
    • DDoS
    • Hacking
    • Malware, Phishing and Ransomware
    • Mobile Security
    • Network Security
    • Regulation
    • Skills Gap
    • The Internet of Things
    • Threat Detection
    • AI and Machine Learning
    • Industrial Internet of Things
  • Multimedia
  • Product Reviews
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Features
  • Insight
  • Channel News
  • Events
    • Most Inspiring Women in Cyber 2022
  • Topics
    • Cloud Security
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Data Protection
    • DDoS
    • Hacking
    • Malware, Phishing and Ransomware
    • Mobile Security
    • Network Security
    • Regulation
    • Skills Gap
    • The Internet of Things
    • Threat Detection
    • AI and Machine Learning
    • Industrial Internet of Things
  • Multimedia
  • Product Reviews
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
IT Security Guru
No Result
View All Result

What role does privacy play in your digital transformation strategy?

by The Gurus
December 7, 2016
in This Week's Gurus
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

If you are a senior leader in an organisation, I am sure you have been asked the question – “What is your digital strategy?” You may also be getting tired of people telling you that new market entrants (especially millennials) are disrupting traditional business models and are forcing you to redefine the end to end customer experience. And here is another good one- “Have you hired a digital transformation executive yet?”  While I make light of all the digital hype, this transformation is not a joke – it is a survival necessity.

In my view, there are two approaches that an organisation can take to modernise digitally – ‘internal business process out’ or ‘customer experience in.’ While it is beneficial to do both, prioritising one is pragmatic. If you are one of those esteemed organisations which have prioritised their digital presence around customer experience, you must have thought how you can protect the privacy of your customers or you are thinking about it right now. 

Tracking and analysing customer data and behaviour is a vital part of any digital strategy. It reveals possible opportunities by providing customer experience insights and helps maintain rapport with your client base. You can obtain information about your customers from many sources apart from the traditional online or mobile interaction. You can collect sensor data from homes, cars, wearables, and potentially implants as well.  But how will this data be used?  Will it be shared?  I am going to assume that customer data will be shared within and outside the organisation- be it driving patterns tracked by P&C Insurance companies, health data procured by Life Insurance Companies and investment patterns followed by Wealth Management firms. Currently, the easiest way to communicate or share information is to use existing and familiar tools such as email or text messaging applications. When using these applications to send/share customer information, how are you ensuring it is kept confidential? I will come back to this later, but first, let’s consider the consequences of leaked client information and the possible opportunities that exist if customer privacy is properly managed.

Making privacy, priority
As customer interaction with organisations  becomes more digital, the risk of sensitive information ending up in the wrong hands has dramatically increased.  We have seen a myriad of brand names in the news around privacy breaches where customer information was compromised. What does this do to the relationship you have with your customers that are affected, as well as prospective clients?  When confidence is lost between an organisation and its customers, there is a direct negative impact on profitability and reputation. Alternatively, if your customers understand that you are making their privacy a top priority, there is a new level of affinity resulting and in turn a positive impact on profitability can be realised. A reliable relationship makes it much easier to increase one’s wallet share of existing customers and capture new customers through word of mouth – I’m showing my age – I should have said through social media!

Let’s come back to the question of how to ensure that customer data stays confidential when sending this information with traditional communication tools.  Most tech savvy people would say “that’s easy – encrypt it.”  The problem is, it’s not easy. We face complex interaction between user experience, manageable infrastructure, and security. If you are a large organisation, consider the myriad of encryption delivery methods- TLS, SMIME, PGP, Portal, ZIP, PDF and the list goes on. Each method has its own value depending on the use. Also, the recipients you are communicating to and the local privacy standards must be taken into account. Alas, it’s tough to simplify your infrastructure when dealing with the multiple flavours of encryption delivery alternatives. It doesn’t stop there – this complexity tends to expose itself to the user or recipient. This causes problems when a big part of your digital strategy is based on simplifying processes and the entire user experience.  Why do so many organisations have one or more encryption solutions and none is used to the extent it should or must be? Complexity of the solution!  And who wants to invest in on-premise infrastructure and the resources to manage this encryption complexity. This problem cannot be ignored, although many try to do just that.

Securing, Mobile experience
Another issue that must be addressed as a part of a digital strategy is the mobile experience. How do you ensure mobile users enjoy a risk-free experience while sending and receiving secure information using encryption technology? Some might say through Javascript or an external app. But who wants another mobile app? The mobile experience must be natively inherent in the solution you deploy.

I would say that there are only a few solutions that can enable you to share sensitive information in a simple way that will enhance the effectiveness of your digital transformation strategy. Even fewer that can in turn alleviate infrastructure complexity, enable you to confidently manage privacy, allow you to deal easily with numerous encrypted messaging alternatives, enable a seamless mobile experience and ensure the ability to create unique branding based on a business unit or market segment.

Email communication makes it easy for your customers and partners to receive and send information and is a key element of digital communications. It’s time for a solution that makes it simple to secure confidential information through this pervasive communications mechanism.

FacebookTweetLinkedIn
ShareTweet
Previous Post

Managing IoT Risk on Your Business Network

Next Post

Top 7 things we learnt about the future in film

Recent News

Guide to ransomware and how to detect it

Guide to ransomware and how to detect it

September 28, 2023
software security

Research reveals 80% of applications developed in EMEA contain security flaws

September 27, 2023
Cyber insurance

Half of organisations with cyber insurance implemented additional security measures to qualify for the policy or reduce its cost

September 27, 2023
Fraud and online banking

Akamai Research Finds the Number of Cyberattacks on European Financial Services More Than Doubled in 2023

September 27, 2023

The IT Security Guru offers a daily news digest of all the best breaking IT security news stories first thing in the morning! Rather than you having to trawl through all the news feeds to find out what’s cooking, you can quickly get everything you need from this site!

Our Address: 10 London Mews, London, W2 1HY

Follow Us

© 2015 - 2019 IT Security Guru - Website Managed by Calm Logic

  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Features
  • Insight
  • Channel News
  • Events
    • Most Inspiring Women in Cyber 2022
  • Topics
    • Cloud Security
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Data Protection
    • DDoS
    • Hacking
    • Malware, Phishing and Ransomware
    • Mobile Security
    • Network Security
    • Regulation
    • Skills Gap
    • The Internet of Things
    • Threat Detection
    • AI and Machine Learning
    • Industrial Internet of Things
  • Multimedia
  • Product Reviews
  • About Us

© 2015 - 2019 IT Security Guru - Website Managed by Calm Logic

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.

Privacy settings

Privacy Settings / PENDING

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.

NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.

GDPR Compliance

Powered by Cookie Information