Around the world, national and regional governments are passing new laws designed to protect the privacy of consumer data. The EU Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is probably the most famous of these laws. It went into effect in 2018 and gives every EU resident the right to review the personal data being collected about them, to correct that data if it contains errors, and to have the data deleted or transferred upon the resident’s request.
Data privacy laws are being drafted and enacted in the United States as well. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which takes effect this year, provides some GDPR-like protections for California residents.
Other U.S. states are working on similar laws in response to citizens’ concerns about their loss of online privacy and the steady pace of data breaches affecting companies in all industries.
Businesses need to take action to comply with these laws. Specifically, they need to discover what consumer data they have, catalog that data, integrate it, manage it, decide what to keep, and what to delete. And they need to build new business processes to present that data for review by consumers who request it.
The Business Benefits of Data Privacy
Fortunately, there are significant benefits to better managing this data — and these benefits extend far beyond compliance with new data privacy regulations. They include gaining better insights into customer requirements and behavior. They also include demonstrating to the public that your organization takes data privacy seriously.
And data privacy is a serious matter. Over half of U.S. adults have decided to avoid using certain products or services because of data privacy concerns. You don’t want to have customers shun your business because of lax data privacy controls.
Proper data management also provides opportunities to better understand your customers. According to McKinsey, business that take full advantage of the insights available in customer data can achieve:
- 85% growth beyond competitors
- 25% growth in gross margins
The evidence is clear: taking consumer data privacy seriously helps businesses reduce regulatory risk, plus protect their reputations and growth profit margins. These are all good reasons to invest in integrating and managing the consumer data in your organization.
Customer Data, Data Privacy, and Strategic Growth
Our new Consumer Data Privacy infographic presents a high-level overview of the stakes and rewards involved in addressing these new data privacy regulations. View and download it here:
