You started a business to turn a profit. This will become an impossibility if customers stop trusting your company and buying its goods and services. This can happen in the blink of an eye if you do not take active measures to protect their confidential information.
Negligence when handling customer data makes clients vulnerable to identity theft, which can cause them financial hardship. Here are some reasons customer data security should be any company’s priority:
Brand loyalty
The easiest way to retain customers is to make them feel that they can trust your company and brand. This keeps them coming back to you each time they need goods and services like those you sell.
They also value transparency and want to know what measures you take to keep the details they supply you with confidential and secured. They know the dangers that handling such information presents, especially the potential for fraud.
However, if customers feel that your company is careless with their confidential data, they will look to spend their money elsewhere. SCA (strong customer authentication) is essential in making customers feel at ease. Accertify has SCA optimization solutions that allow companies to comply with legislation and regulations while simultaneously creating a convenient, secure checkout experience for the customer.
Cuts unnecessary expenses
Putting cybersecurity measures in place to ensure the safety of customer information might seem like an expensive operation. However, the amount spent will be negligible compared to the damages a company might be ordered to pay if it does not take sufficient precautions to protect client data.
Additionally, the loss of revenue from customers who desert a business with a poor reputation for customer data security measures could be catastrophic.
Customer data protection measures should be viewed as an investment in the continued economic growth of a company. Business owners should approach it much like they do in the instance of insurance. It is a way of preparing for the worst by ensuring that it is unlikely to happen.
Regulatory requirements
Federal and state laws mandate that companies implement specific cybersecurity measures to ensure the protection of customers as part of consumer protection legislation. Additionally, industry-related regulatory bodies require similar measures for companies to secure their endorsement.
Compliance should be handled proactively, meaning that it should not be left until it is too late. The damage is then already done and could have irrevocable consequences. A failure to maintain compliance will not only have civil implications but could also have criminal repercussions.
Understanding all aspects of compliance, including those surrounding customer data security, is essential for planning and implementing interventions. Such security measures should never be regarded purely as an IT problem because they have a ripple effect throughout a business’s operations.
Third-party interference
When people hear about a cybersecurity breach, they think of anonymous hackers sitting behind computer screens on the other side of the world. While hacking is a reality, it is by no means the only way that customer data can be compromised.
Sometimes a breach comes from within an organization, such as a fired employee who holds a grudge against the company. Other employees might be incentivized through financial gain or blackmail to steal customer data. Additionally, there are external service providers who have access to this information and could steal it.
However, a data breach occurs, the company is in the direct firing line, and trying to cover it up or point fingers at someone else does not improve your standing with customers. Instead, the company should take active measures to ensure that it never faces the situation in the first instance.
