The Business Times, Singapore: Cognizant’s Senior Director, Center for the Future of Work Says that Trust is the Currency of the Digital Age

“Without trust between consumers and service providers, there is no common ground for privacy in the digital world, especially when companies use personal data in ways consumers were not expecting,” Manish Bahl. “In the age where data and analytics are the key to honing a competitive edge, data ethics has to be at the heart of business success.” Excerpts:

“Recently, there has been a flood of headlines about the misuse of consumer data by social media platforms, indicating that while people do care about privacy, they still have no clue what it means or how to handle it.

Research from Cognizant titled The Business Value of Trust has revealed a ‘give-to-get’ ratio, where 66 per cent of respondents understand personal data as a valuable commodity and are willing to share it with companies - but only in exchange for some form of value. Companies must show consumers a return on the value of their trust. This positive "give-to-get" ratio is at the core of the economics of trust.

Over the next five years, the notion of ‘privacy’ will undergo a radical change, and perhaps what is seen as unethical today will become acceptable tomorrow. As consumers become more educated about how companies are using their data, they may be willing to assume more risk in exchange for value in the form of personalised experiences, discounts or coupons. This kind of trade-off might be the new norm of privacy in the future.

Companies that earn the trust will be better suited to weather the inevitable data breaches that will come our way as cyberthreats become more pervasive and sophisticated.”

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