If your business is like many others, then it is likely using more and more customer data, whether you’re using it to get intel on customer behavior, to improve how your business handles internal processes, or even to work with partners to develop more complete customer profiles. While there is a lot of potential to be found in using customer data for your business, it also comes with a set of responsibilities that your business must take seriously. Here are some of those responsibilities and what you should do about them.
Be mindful of how you collect data
First of all, you should know that there are limitations on how you can collect and collate data from your customers. This will largely depend on where you are based, but you should look at laws like GDRP and data protection acts that may dictate terms on how you can collect data. For instance, you may have to make the customer or website visitor aware of what data you’re going to collect and how it is going to be used when collected, offering them the opportunity to withdraw consent.
Keep their data private
Regardless of how you collect that data, you need to ensure that customer data is kept secure and private. This means not only ensuring that your own digital security means are up to scratch, and keeping backups of customer data, but taking steps to anonymize that data where possible so that, regardless of who has access to it, it cannot be used to harm customers. With the help of data protection services, you can make sure that you have all of the right steps and processes in place to ensure that you’re handling data as safely as possible and have steps to safeguard the privacy of customer data. This also includes having a plan of how to handle any potential breaches or leaks to minimize damage as best as possible.
Working with your customers
It is your business’s responsibility to keep your customers’ data protected and private when it is within your own system. However, how customers interface with your systems is also worth thinking about as well, and businesses that take the step to educate them about the risks that face their data can help to best win their trust. If data protection and privacy are relevant to your customers, then you use email reminders and content marketing to keep them up to date on any threats, as well as tips on how they can manage their data safety. It’s not your responsibility to manage how your customers handle data on their own time, but protecting them from breaches and things like phishing scams can go a long way.
Both the business and the customer need to be on top of data safety. However in the majority of data breaches and leaks, it is the business that shares the greatest liability. As such, you should ensure that you do everything you can to keep your customer’s data safe, secure, and private.