Justin King: Make the change that your consumers want to see before it is forced upon you

Legislation is always late, but that's no reason to ignore necessary changes

Justin King, who led Sainsbury's as CEO until 2014, is a great advocate for consumer rights, often found speaking out against inappropriate data use. We spoke to him at this year's Teradata Universe conference in London about his views on data collection and the GDPR, which is widely seen as customer-friendly.

Attitudes towards data have been changing over the past decade, King argues, as people start to question why they are giving away so much personal information. While the idea of a free service like Facebook is appealing, the idea of an attacker finding out your address, date of birth and favourite type of jam through a breach is not.

"The vast majority of information that companies have today, they have acquired in a way that is not necessarily as part of an explicit compact with consumers.

"My childrens'...attitude towards social media is fundamentally different to what it was 10 years ago; I don't think that they understood, when they were giving away their data all those years ago, what they were giving up."

The GDPR, which came into effect last month, means that any information that companies collect about customers has to be part of an explicit (or unambiguous - and yes, they are different) agreement: there can't be any messing about with pre-filled boxes or implied consent.

However, King still feels like the legislation - indeed, any legislation - will inevitably fall short of what it's meant to do.

"[The GDPR] seems to me to be proportionate, to be born of the idea that consumers need protecting - and most consumer legislation born of that idea isn't inherently bad. But...it inevitably ends up looking slightly behind the times, slightly missing the point, because in the years it's needed to go through the legislative process, technology has already moved to a place where much of what it talks about seems highly irrelevant."

In King's view, responsible companies should be following legislative guidelines long before the legislation actually comes into force, which will is not only the right thing to do but "places a premium on companies prepared to take the step voluntarily." He is, however, critical of groups formed of multiple companies all agreeing to follow the same guidelines:

"I've always taken the view that good corporations will get there long before legislation does. It's why I'm quite wary of collective and voluntary agreements, because that's usually the industry trying to wrap itself in the clothes of its best-behaving members… I always felt that as a good corporation...I didn't want to be a member of any voluntary agreement that wanted me as a member."

He added, "Corporations will see a competitive advantage in behaving in a different way; and because they behave in a different way, some consumers will embrace them more than other corporations."

The GDPR is the latest example of companies being able to reinforce consumer trust in themselves by taking the necessary steps before the legislation came into effect, but it won't be the last.

By doing only the minimum, following the word of the law rather than its spirit, firms will lose that trust. It is important, said King, to stay ahead of the legislation and make the changes that your consumers want to see - even if it inconveniences you:

"Of course, there'll always be short-term gain from doing the bad thing, and that's why culture becomes so important. Only by testing your actions, against the true belief that you're trying to do positive things for people, will it guide you in those decisions. There will always be bad decisions that look good in the short term."