Earning trust in an 'always on' world

A mother inadvertently locks her infant inside the car. She calmly dials the phone number of an electronic service provided by the car manufacturer. Within seconds, satellite signals sent to the car's circuitry open the door.

This is an age where technology links people, devices, objects, companies and information systems in a global network, and where services are provided in real time, based on needs, location, context and transaction history.

Yet a trade-off must be made for an 'always on, always aware' world.

To unlock a consumer's car door from hundreds or thousands of miles away, the enterprise depends on personal and demographic information, as well as service records.

Technological change has outpaced current privacy and protection laws with surveillance cameras and sensors, embedded microchips and RFID tags, wireless devices that provide location data, smartcards, interactive TV that tracks viewing and buying preferences, electronic storage that retains personal information, and an internet that makes this information available to millions of people around the world.

So how can efforts to protect the privacy of individuals be balanced with their desire to enjoy technologically advanced services?

Organisations need to recognise that the solution doesn't lie in regulation, legislation and compliance alone. It comes by instilling and upholding a sense of trust in their consumers.

In the UK, there has already been a remarkable acceptance of CCTV, helped by the perception of increased safety. The trust given to those who monitor the public must be echoed elsewhere.

We all want to be confident that personal information is being protected against theft or unauthorised use.

This control over who gains legal access to personal information, combined with data control, makes up the foundation of the trust issue. But this is not enough to guarantee the confidence of the consumer.

The technological capability of today's world means that control over who has access to the consumer and how they are reached, along with the guarantee that access to information is being used responsibly, are equally vital.

In addition, what still needs to be recognised is that the consumer will only be interested if they can see a benefit.

Trust can be earned and maintained by bearing in mind five general principles:

1. Trust is earned over time. This gives established companies a definite edge.

2. Trust can be monitored by governments, but not established by them. While privacy laws represent part of the solution, companies need to establish their trustworthiness.

3. Trust is an aggregation of many people's experiences. Today's technologies and services make it hard to hide a bad reputation.
4. While it may take years to establish trust, it can be wiped out in an instant. One company installed a location system that was purported to find people in case of emergencies, but was instead used to spy on staff to monitor their work habits.

5. Trust extends throughout the value chain. A company that gathers consumer information must take responsibility for its use by every organisation with which the company does business.

Companies can take practical steps towards an operating model based on trust. Starting with the business plan, it must be decided what trusted services you wish to plan, develop and deploy.

Define your customers' unique concerns and motivations on trust, then develop and publish guidelines that protect your customers' information and privacy.

This can be expanded externally, where organisations collaborate with business partners so that the same level of trust and responsibility is followed across the value chain.

Finally, you must monitor legislative developments and influence government bodies by demonstrating services that are sensitive to privacy concerns while driving business value. Start now, because it takes time to establish trust.

Privacy needs to be viewed as an opportunity through which businesses can differentiate themselves, increase their financial value and even energise entire economies.

Glover Ferguson is chief scientist at Accenture.