Trust and ethics

In assessing how trust and ethics are a factor, this paper considers a number of assertions affecting both company and individuals’ data, covering some of the key regulatory, industry, individual and economic factors. It looks at the forecast trends in data availability, consumption and use that will affect business in the coming years.

This report explores these five assertions:

1. The introduction of General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) didn’t just bring more regulatory change for companies to deal with and a lot of ‘noise’ around issues such as ‘consent’ and privacy notices – it kick-started in many businesses a long-overdue and neglected focus on data protection risks and practices.
2. The business world’s current fascination with the potential opportunities for, and risks from, artificial intelligence and machine learning is driving a focus on Data Ethics.
3. Customers are expressing and acting upon their growing expectation of being able to trust the companies they interact with.
4. The link between assertions 1, 2 and 3 will have a direct and increasing impact on customer acquisition costs and the economic value of companies.
5. Going forward, we believe that companies will need to respond to this expectation of trust by providing more tangible, evidence-based, indicators of that trust and how it is being sustained and communicated with customers on this basis.