Talend has published the results of an international consumer and IT business survey that uncovers a startling gap between customer expectations, and the reality of what organizations are currently providing. The study, which was conducted by Researchscape, highlights the importance of high-quality data security to any business engaging with UK consumers. Among the key findings, the survey reveals that 65 percent of UK consumers claim experiencing a data leak/breach would be likely to make them “break up” with a brand.
In the UK, the issue topped an extensive list of service concerns with the potential to lead to a brand break-up, and the percentage was also higher than the corresponding figures recorded for consumers in the US, France, and Germany. In line with this finding, a significant majority of the UK sample (82 percent) agree that ‘security and privacy are a concern to me’.
Patrick Booth, VP UK & Ireland at Talend, comments: “With GDPR just around the corner, this is another reminder of the paramount importance of cyber security and data privacy for any business engaging with customers in the UK. Most businesses already know that breaches of that regulation could lead to fines of up to ˆ20 million or 4 percent of global annual turnover for the preceding financial year. Findings from this survey around the further impact of data breaches on customer churn should create a sense of urgency for companies to mandate high standards for data governance and security.”
From a security standpoint, the onward march of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the consequent impact on data volumes and data connectivity will present major challenges to businesses in the post GDPR world as they struggle to deal with the implications around data security and data privacy.
From the consumer perspective at least, the UK is perhaps less far down this path than some other countries. Just 26 percent of UK consumers said they owned a connected/IoT device compared to 70 percent in France, for example. However, the concerns of UK consumers around connected devices are likely to rise as penetration rates grow. Already, 79 percent of the UK sample say they believe manufacturers should require consumers to use strong password credentials for connected devices, a higher proportion than that recorded in any of the four other countries surveyed as part of the research.
In line with the growing concerns of customers, the survey reveals some evidence that UK companies are beginning to understand the importance of not just data but also data security and data privacy to their ongoing success. Seventy-four percent of IT leaders in the UK, surveyed as part of the poll, said that they saw a data breach as a situation in which they believe either ‘they or one of their team could face disciplinary action and/or penalties’. That was once again the highest percentage among the options provided to the UK sample and also higher than the percentage recorded by their peers in the other countries surveyed.
Added to that, significantly more than half the sample of UK IT leaders (55 percent) said data governance was among their organisation’s top three business priorities in 2017, almost twice the proportion who referenced it in Germany and a full ten percentage points higher than the average figure across the whole poll.
“It’s an encouraging finding,” adds Booth, “and it plays into a growing focus among UK companies on customer data.”
More than half (53 percent) of UK IT leaders rated the importance of data to their organisation’s strategy at 9 or 10 out of 10, while they saw ‘using data to better understand customers’ (cited by 61 percent) as their top business priority overall.
However, the survey reveals ‘a disconnect’ between the views of the business and its customers as to how effective organisations are at addressing their customers’ needs. Although 82% of IT leaders in the UK say their organisations truly understand the needs of their customers, just 66% of UK consumers believe their favourite brands understand them and cater to their needs.
