& TECHNOLOGY
Five reasons why your business should care about data ethics
Customer information is vital to every business – but how much consideration does your business give to data ethics? If it’s not near the top of your company to-do list then it should be, explains Dr Funmi Obembe (pictured), of De Montfort University Leicester’s (DMU) Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, a group of academics working with industry to educate about the potential impacts of technology on society and its citizens.
It can seem as though data breaches are constantly in the news. In April, it emerged that 533 million people’s Facebook accounts had been exposed to hackers and LinkedIn user information was for sale on the dark web. More and more people are
becoming aware of the amount of personal information that is held about them and expect companies to protect it. Data ethics is simply all about
the ethical use of data by organisations which, among other things, includes thinking about the way in which your company treats the information it holds on its customers. Do you keep it safe and let your
customers know what data your firm holds? Do you hold more data than you need? If you buy customer lists for marketing purposes, are you confident about the way in which that information was collected?
Here are five reasons why your
business needs to think about the way in which it gathers, and uses, data and customer information:
1. REVENUE Put simply, ensuring you use data ethically protects your bottom line. Failing to ensure that customer data is safe leaves your company open for fines and legal action. Research by digital
transformation firm Fenergo found 198 fines were imposed in 2020, 141% up on last year, with penalties totalling $10.4bn. In March, travel booking site
Booking.com was fined £475,000 for being too slow to report a breach in which credit card information was stolen.
2. TRUST We know public trust in companies to use data appropriately is lower than trust levels generally. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 32% of Facebook users
stopped using the site as often. That rose to 38% the following year. A study by KPMG found 97% of
consumers rated data privacy as important to them when choosing who they do business with. If your customers consider it as important, then it’s something businesses should be taking very seriously.
3. BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY When your customers know you are keeping their private information safe, you benefit from a loyal fanbase, and word of mouth is the best recommendation. It could also become a selling
point for doing business with your company. The key is transparency and ensuring customers know what data you hold, and how you use it. Consumers expect more from brands they buy from.
4. REPUTATION More than ever, people expect full transparency, control and choice
over how their data is shared and used by companies. Unethical data usage, security
breaches and leaks lead to bad press and affect your company’s reputation, which in turn can hit the bottom line. The Cambridge Analytica
scandal knocked $36bn off Facebook’s stock value 24 hours after the story was published by The Guardian and The New York Times.
5. BE A TRAILBLAZER At the moment, data ethics is a “good to have”, rather than a legal requirement, but the direction of travel indicated by the Government shows legislation is increasingly likely. Those businesses that get on
board now to audit their data, interrogate how it’s used and communicate it to customers will be the ones to gain a reputation for being good to buy from and do business with.
Air IT launches new password management service
Businesses can call on expert support to prevent password- related cyber-attacks after a managed IT service provider launched a new password management service. The Nottinghamshire- headquartered company, which has a national presence, will help employees at client firms to create a strong “master password” that allows access to an individual password vault – allowing a move away from risky practices in which people use the same combination across multiple accounts. The service will be overseen by
Air IT’s in-house Security Operations Centre, headed up by chief technology officer Lee Johnson (pictured, centre). He said: “The average person has
threat to businesses, with four in 10 affected by data breaches in the past 12 months. This figure is notably higher
among medium-sized businesses, 65% of which had been victims of cyber-attacks, and 51% of high- income charities. Many of these attacks can be
attributed to inadequate use of passwords and poorly generated passwords. Air IT’s specialist cyber security
more than 70 password-protected accounts, which often leads to poor password hygiene such as creating simple, easily-cracked passwords that are reused across several accounts. “As part of our mission to
safeguard organisations, we are thrilled to offer this new service which will mitigate the risk of data breaches, strengthen compliance standards and boost employee productivity.” Cyber-crime poses a significant
division has partnered with Keeper Security, the leading cyber security platform for preventing password- related cyber threats, to offer the password management service, with features including password generation, record-level encryption, team management, secure file storage and security audits.
business network June 2021 67
DIGITAL
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