Intelligent CISO Issue 59 | Page 29

Companies rely on customer data more than ever to create actionable insights to personalise services , operate more efficiently and drive business growth .
Ensuring data privacy is not just a technology issue , it ’ s also about company culture , process and controls .

? editor ’ s question n a digital economy ,

I we are creating , capturing and sharing more personal data than ever before . Companies rely on customer data more than ever to create actionable insights to personalise services , operate more efficiently and drive business growth . We ’ re living in the ‘ decade of data ’ – and with this comes , of course , the decade of data privacy .

Privacy now extends far beyond protecting ourselves physically and encompasses everything we do or interact with digitally : our online footprint , often referred to as our digital twin . We ’ ve seen a raft of high-profile data breaches in the spotlight this past year which has fuelled public concern around data privacy . As companies become more data dependent , customers become even more reluctant to share data while citizens remain woefully ignorant about data collected on them . It is this tension and misalignment that needs to be properly addressed in order to unlock data ’ s full potential .

Companies rely on customer data more than ever to create actionable insights to personalise services , operate more efficiently and drive business growth .

CINDI HOWSON , CHIEF DATA STRATEGY OFFICER AT THOUGHTSPOT

Ensuring data privacy is not just a technology issue , it ’ s also about company culture , process and controls .

Those working with customer data within any business need to be vigilant about how personal data is collected , stored and used , as well as the implications of failing to handle this data correctly . Behind this data are real people , many of whom will not hesitate to take their business elsewhere should their data be lost or exposed . Ensuring data privacy is not just a technology issue , it ’ s also about company culture , process and controls . And with analysts now able to extract increasing amounts of data from even more internal and external sources , ensuring data privacy must be part of an organisation ’ s DNA . Dumping data from analytics tools to spreadsheets remains a weak link .
Nowadays , laws and regulations such as GDPR , CCPA and LGPD place stricter requirements on organisations , while giving individuals more access and rights around their data . Data Privacy Day , and the extended Data Privacy Week , is our opportunity , as businesses and data leaders , to bring awareness to those persistent knowledge gaps , take a closer look at best practices around data and open up the conversation around data privacy and protection . www . intelligentciso . com
29