Good Data Privacy is Good for Business

Most companies have good business practices in place to keep everything running well, foster a positive environment, and grow. Top practices usually include:

• Keeping the workplace safe
• Employee engagement
• Flexible work policies
• Good leadership
• Rewarding achievements
• Good communication
• Maintaining a culture of innovation

Good consumer data privacy practices are also good for business. In most companies, data privacy and information security are interconnected and are a very important aspect across teams, especially HR, IT, and IS. The Better Business Bureau reinforces the importance of creating a culture of privacy in your organization. “Educate employees about the importance and impact of protecting consumer and employee information as well as the role they play in keeping it safe,” it advocates.

Show everyone, from day one, that privacy is an important cultural value to your organization. How? By including it in your employee handbook and on-boarding process. “When you build an understanding of privacy at the cultural level, you create a force multiplier for privacy that reaches into every branch of your organization,” notes IAPP. This includes your customers and members.

The Flip Side

Poor internal data privacy practices can put organizations at risk, which could pose significant threats to an organization’s cybersecurity. Just one serious security incident or data breach could derail a company’s growth and profitability. That’s the opposite of good for business!

How important is employee privacy in a company’s overall security? Very. Your own employees can be your organization’s weakest link. The lion’s share of incidents stem from human fumbles — clicking on a phishing link, falling for a business email scheme, or sharing the wrong information. The best way to protect customer and employee privacy is to be proactive and anticipate that incidents will happen.

Your company’s data is essentially at the mercy of your employees. Employees are the frontline of your organization and the gateway for your corporate data, according to SMBCEO. “By helping employees secure their personal and work lives, you’ll mitigate risk to your business. Creating awareness and a behavior change in your employees is the trick to creating a culture of data security.”

Your Company’s Best-Kept Secret

Data breaches are inevitable. Don’t wait until a privacy or security incident happens. Consider taking proactive steps to get your organization “response ready” — before, during, and after a data breach. To help safeguard against the inevitable cyber incident, offering privacy protection as a benefit could be your company’s best line of defense.

“By putting privacy protections in place and keeping individual’s digital footprint clean, companies can mitigate the risk from becoming a victim of this year’s wave of cybercrime,” recommends Tom Kelly, president and CEO of IDX.

Managing good data privacy practices not only helps to protect your customers, members, and employees, but your company as well. By establishing policies, conducting ongoing education and training, and offering your employees and members the best-in-class privacy protection solutions you can be one step ahead of cyber threats.. Taking steps to improve data privacy practices in your organization will also demonstrate good leadership. “Taking a strategic approach to privacy with executive leadership and oversight in place will not only help companies mature their privacy posture, but provide opportunities to utilize privacy as a competitive differentiator,” states Stephanie Torto with IBM.

When sensitive data is protected — whether it’s customer data, company data, member data, or employee data — everyone will be safer. And a safe workplace is probably one of the most important best practices. “A safe workplace is sound business,” is OHSA’s overall theme. Even if hardhats and steel toe boots aren’t standard at your company, keeping sensitive data safe applies across the board.