Spencer Izard, Research Director at PAC (Pierre Audoin Consultants) in London, has shared his thoughts about digital trust and how the pandemic has accelerated its rise to prominence for companies, in a recent PAC blog post.
Digital trust can best be defined as the confidence the general public holds in a company’s ability to protect data about and related to members of the public. And just as with other social trust models, digital trust is hard to gain but easy to lose – sometimes even souring into digital distrust.
According to Izard, companies are under constantly rising pressure to deliver a wide spectrum of digital customer experiences. Due to this (time) pressure, data protection and cyber security too often remain neglected. In many cases, the COVID pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Meanwhile, the protection of personal data is now acknowledged as a fundamental human right by governments around the globe, underlining the importance of trust in digital services in a company’s interactions with consumers and other companies alike.
At the same time, the frequent occurrence of serious data leaks is leading to digital distrust, for instance through cyberattacks, misuse of personal data, inappropriate or illegal surveillance, the proliferation of fake news and misinformation, biased algorithms, and a lack of digital transparency. Any one of these issues could impact an organization through reputational damage, loss of customers or regulatory penalties.
Companies are now expected to advocate and uphold digital privacy, be honest and reliable, champion transparency, and be dependable in their dealings with the public by maintaining confidentiality, traceability and data integrity. Fortunately, they don’t have to face this mammoth task alone. Izard explains that cloud-based services have democratized access to high-performance options for companies to conduct, integrate and automate their communication with consumers and other companies. That’s why organizations need to find a suitable partner with the requisite delivery expertise and ongoing service management.
A partner like Retarus, for instance. Find out more about why you can place your digital trust in us in the webinar “Trust in the Digital World – Combining Performance and Data Protection in Enterprise Messaging” and on our website.
