Collection of data has become a central strategy to build a uniquely tailored consumer experience for every user. This collection of data results in businesses and organizations storing, processing, and transferring copious amounts of data to create unique analysis of a consumer’s profile. However, collection of data on such a vast scale often puts it at risk since many businesses and organizations have a lapse in placing suitable security measures and contingency data protection strategies to ensure their consumers data is kept safe.
The advent of generative AI is another such occasion where vast amounts of data is collected to train these AI models to give accurate responses. Trust is an imperative facet of strengthening the relationship between consumers and brands. This often places brands in a complicated position because they need data in order to create specialized experiences for their consumers but any lapse in proper data security measures could lead to reputational damage that is irrevocable.
In such a data centric climate, what measures can brands or businesses take in order to ensure the safety of their consumer’s data?
The Use of Encryption:
The use of encryption as a data protection scheme would be a proactive way of dealing with any potential data breaches. This can be executed on a limited scale or on multiple levels where different variations of encryption methods are used for different types of data–prioritizing sensitive data, and creating a varied range of encryptions for each type of data stored within a database.
Creating Contingency Strategies:
By creating go-to strategies, businesses would include plans to create awareness about the execution of these in case of potential data breaches and have various actionable decisions to be followed in the worst case scenario of this kind. Having a go-to plan would eliminate any rash decisions from being taken, and regular training and practical demonstrations of such schemes would eliminate a lot of potential risks by creating awareness about loopholes and reducing human errors to an extent.
Data Management Strategies:
Proper data management strategies would allow essential segmentation of consumer data. This would ensure data is not exposed to any channels and is stored in the organization’s database in a secure, stable way. Data privacy regulations like the EU's GDPR have forced businesses and organizations to take a closer look at how they use and manage consumer data. It is essential to reinforce trust as a main facet of strengthening the bond between brands and the consumer. This would create a protective environment where progress would happen with the consent of the consumer.
Hiring Third Party Vendors to Audit:
Hiring third party vendors to audit records of the organization would ensure they are maintaining a clearcut environment which can be observed and crosschecked. Hiring third party vendors would be a reassuring concept as it would encourage trust and openness regarding the sharing of records and how consumer data is manage and maintained by the organization.
The Use of Stringent Verification Strategies:
Increasing the requirement of proper verification when it comes to dealing with consumer data could also be a reassuring facet for the consumer whose data the organization is dealing with. This would be paramount for organizations dealing with sensitive financial and personal data, the loss of which could create problems for the consumer and the brand/organization.
Hiring Data Protection Officers:
Hiring a designated Data Protection Officers (DPOs) or a third party organization altogether could also be a resourceful way of discovering the shortcomings of an organization’s data protection and data privacy schemes. The designated DPO in an organization could be single handedly responsible for ensuring an organization’s compliance with various data privacy laws and consistently check the various data privacy policies in place in an organization in order to ensure chances of data breaches can be reduced to zero.
Today’s data-heavy landscape automatically creates an environment where the possibility of mistrust is heightened a lot more than one of trust. This is why it is essential to take such measures and tailor ever-evolving, inventive methods that can bridge the gap and cement the building of growth between the consumer and an organization.
Comments