The Dark Side of Data Collection: How Companies Can Build Transparency and Accountability

Do you know what happens to your data while you use your digital devices and connect to internet platforms? Since the big data movement started, companies have begun collecting all forms of customer data, from voluntarily given data to data captured through browsing history. Data is collected for analytics purposes to make better business decisions and target customers.??

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However, have you ever wondered if the data you give to these corporations are not always taken and used for the right reasons? There are three ways by which a company uses customer data;??

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1. To enhance and improve the product or service;??
2. Target marketing which means showing ads relevant to the user’s preferences and needs?
3. And the last, in some cases, to sell the data to third-party entities.??

Only some companies comply with the proper ethical codes of behavior, and what never gets observed is that customers who provide such information to firms are not quite at ease knowing that their data is getting sold to someone else, which can get used for malicious reasons. For example, credit card information and health reports getting sold.??

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We, users of various apps and devices, know that we give critical data to big companies every second, including social media connections list, location, web searches, communication history, IP address, and even web-surfing history. In every way, customer’s move is getting watched, and through advanced technologies in analytics and data science, it is rising at an alarming rate which needs to get reconciled.??

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When companies use data for product enhancement purposes, customers see it as a fair trade. But the uneasiness is understandable when the personal data gets used to target them for enhancing sales and for marketing reasons. And no customer would ever agree to allow their private data to get sold to third-party entities. Companies tend to be opaque about customer data use, and disclosure comes only during a severe legal trial. There is no communication and transparency between the customers and company runners, so the bond of trust is weaker there.??

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Firms might get away by taking large amounts of data collected from various customers, but it won’t last long. We always mention in our?NamaSYS?blogs how important it is to have a long-term goal over a short term, and therefore, by keeping customers blind about how their data is used and giving no access to users is nothing but a short-term strategy that will not build a company’s goodwill.??

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The right strategy should ensure that the company’s goodwill gets built from the start, which can happen when there is a strong bond of trust among customers. When there is trust, customers will not hesitate to allow their personal data to get utilized for the greater good.??

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Conclusion????

Lastly, we must end our discussion by stating that every individual has the right to know how and where their personal data gets used and for what purposes. The data privacy and security laws are still improving, but only through our united strength we can find a way to build a data culture where the interest of customers and companies can align to work together to make our world a better place. We will continue our discussion with the upcoming blog, where the issues concerned with building customer trust are ongoing considerations to propel.??