- Customer Experience
- Uploaded In: 2022
Balancing Act: Data Privacy and Customer Convenience
Data privacy is a discipline to keep data safe against improper access, theft, or loss. Without efficient cyber security management systems and detailed internal policies, companies; as well as their customers, employees and stakeholders, remain vulnerable to data breaches.
Prompted by an uptick in global cybercrime over the past few years resulting in far-reaching accumulative losses, an increasing number of businesses across industries are coming to a better understanding of the importance of managing and protecting data this year.
EU's General Data Protection Regulation
As the global gold standard for data protection, the GDPR represents a significant evolution in the management of personal data protection when it came into force in 2018. The law includes stringent requirements for organisations who process personal data of EU residents or are based in the EU, with many multinationals in the Middle East undertaking GDPR compliance projects.
Higher privacy thanks to digitalisation
The pandemic has accelerated digitalisation, and one frequently asked question about privacy is how much of our online information is processed. Many companies must use personal data, including identifiers such as biometrics in the form of fingerprints and photographs. Most consumers say that companies must protect consumers' privacy and that companies have a responsibility to manage their data. However, only 20% of consumers in surveys are ready to sacrifice convenience for a higher level of privacy. That's the challenge privacy professionals face- balancing the risk of privacy versus the benefit of convenience.
The GDPR impact on data privacy
GDPR has been a great transformer in terms of how to handle data. A major change is that companies now are obligated to demonstrate their compliance. The GDPR has set a benchmark for a standard to which companies should act responsibly while processing individuals' personal data. For VFS Global, it was not a huge journey as we already had strong privacy and security requirements in place based on the nature of our business. GDPR formalised what we were already doing and provided a framework for businesses to manage the data that they were collecting and processing.
More organisations are taking a "Privacy by Design" approach to their applications.
Privacy by Design states that any activity a company undertakes that involves processing personal data must be designed with data protection and privacy in mind from the outset and at every step of the process. Data Protection must be an integral part of technological development as well as how the product or service is delivered. For many organisations, adopting a Privacy by Design approach will require a significant culture change.
It is very evident that transparent organisations who inform customers about the information they gather, offer them the choice of sharing their personal data, and even communicate effectively how the data will be used to offer them a better experience will be far more trusted than those who camouflage the use of personal data collected or have customers who feel they are ill-informed about this process. Choice is now with organisations whether they want to generate goodwill in the long run or look for short-term benefits from the data collected from their customers.
If you have any feedback on this article or would like to reach out to our team to know more, please email us at
communications@vfsglobal.com
