Around the world, many data protection laws are now being implemented. There’s a growing increase in awareness and advocacies directed towards protecting personal and business data. It makes sense because the rise of digitalization has also fostered the rise in data security risks and threats.
Having important personal and confidential information stored in software or clouds makes them prone to security breaches, like access by third persons, viruses, loss, etc. There are several important reasons why every individual and business needs to strive to keep data protected.
Legal requirements
The law is doing its part to help protect important and confidential data belonging to individuals and businesses. That’s why there are several proposed and enacted data privacy and protection laws. Businesses have to do its part in protecting data not only because it will benefit their company, but more importantly, because the State imposes it. In most areas, violation of data privacy and protection laws will incur fines and penalties.
Retain consumer trust
In many transactions, consumers have to provide their data to businesses. Our names, email addresses, contact numbers, etc. are asked of us when we create accounts for social media sites. Even online shopping requires that we provide sensitive information like our home addresses and bank account information. These are all personal data.
But consumers trust businesses enough to provide this information to them. Businesses have to strive to keep that trust by protecting consumer data. Otherwise, people will lose their trust in the company, which will reap a lot of consequences for the business.
Strengthen the business
The more a consumer trusts a company enough to give out their personal information, the more these companies ensure their growth and success. From a business point of view, people who give out their info like name and email address are considered as leads. It allows the company to reach out to these people and interact with them, thus transforming them into loyal customers.
Reports show that 93% of consumers found it essential to have control over their personal information. That means that when businesses give more control back to them and require their consent to access their personal information, then the more consumers are willing to give their data.
Competitive edge
75% of consumers have concerns about the security of their personal information on the Internet. One-third of these people say that they don’t participate in online transactions because of fear regarding the protection of their data and privacy. That means that businesses that protect consumer data are more likely to be preferred over those who don’t, thus giving them a competitive edge in their respective industries.
Physical safety
Many people don’t understand the risks involved in unprotected personal data. It might not seem like a big deal, but it can harm the physical safety of the data subject. There are many cases where harm was brought upon a person because a third person was able to gain access to their address. Financial losses due to leakage of bank information are also possible.
This is particularly why data privacy and protection are important. It’s linked to a lot of safety risks, so people are becoming more careful with sharing their personal information.
Consumers are becoming more and more aware of how businesses utilize their data. That’s why they’re becoming more cautious about what they share online. Businesses need to come up with ways to protect the data of their company and their consumers. Investing in tools like memory protection, software security, etc. will do a great deal in helping businesses secure their privacy.
