Your Business’ Responsibility for Your Customers’ Data

More and more businesses are opting to use more data in how they operate. This includes using it to gain insights on customer behavior, internal processes, and working with partners to better shape marketing funnels to their customers’ behavior. However, if your business retrieves and collects customer data, then you must know that you also have responsibilities for that data is used. If you plan to become a data-driven business, then you must ensure that you’re taking your use, storage, and sharing of that data seriously.

Image – CC0 License

Safeguarding your systems

You are responsible for the safety and security of any data that is kept in your own systems. This includes customer data and a breach of this responsibility would include a leak that sees their data being published elsewhere. Even if they are victims as well, companies have been sued for data breaches in the past by those who have had their data made public. The more data that your business collects, the more that you should be investing in active cybersecurity for your business.

This goes beyond investing in firewalls and anti-malware. You should have manual threat detection services with security professionals working to protect your system from threats on a day-to-day basis, including threat penetration tests to find your vulnerabilities and fix them.

Taking privacy seriously

Protecting your customers’ data isn’t just about making sure that your systems are safe from the wide range of cyber threats out there. It’s also about making sure that any usage of the data internally is done in a way that protects their identity as best as possible and offers them privacy while still making their data useful for practical applications. To that end, working with a privacy consultant can help you ensure that you are collecting data, centralizing it, using it, and sharing it in ways that protect the customer’s right to privacy. What’s more, such consultants can make sure that you’re getting customer permission for the ways that you use their data already.

Helping customers manage their own responsibility

Keeping your customer’s data private and ensuring that it is protected when stored in your own systems is entirely your responsibility. However, if you want to keep both your own data and your customers safe, then it’s wise to play a role in helping to educate them about the risks to their data out there.

For instance, you can educate customers on cybersecurity threats through your content marketing, through reminder emails if there is news of any new threats (such as a round of phishing scams) making the rounds, and even by bringing up the topic on social media. Having links to your own blog with step-by-step solutions on how they can better protect their own data can be a big help.

You and your customers share responsibility for their data safety. Ensuring that you follow all the rules regarding privacy and take the necessary steps to safeguard their data is vital. However, you can also play an important role in helping your customers become more aware of the threats facing them and how they can better prepare against them.