Trust in the tech giants is falling as we enter 'the era of choice'

Consumers to start to question and demand more when it comes to their data

The traditional tech giants have been taking something of a battering of late. The consensus is that people do not trust them with their personal data.

This is being compounded in Europe by the EU looking to arm itself with new powers that could potentially force the tech giants to break up or sell some of their operations due to market dominance. Italy's competition authority has also recently signalled its intention to investigate cloud storage services run by Apple, Google and Dropbox due to alleged unfair commercial practices, including how they collect and use consumer data.

All this demonstrates that the tech giants are not having everything their own way. But we should not be surprised. It is not necessarily that they are rebelling against the current system, but the public are now more aware and more educated. And some in the tech industry are guilty of being slow to react -or perhaps not wanting to.

Worse, the public have also been burned too many times. It is natural, therefore, for consumers to start to question and demand more when it comes to their data.

There are three things that any tech firm handling user data must put at the heart of their strategy: choice, visibility and security.

We are moving into an era that will be defined by greater choice. The public at large is becoming more concerned about where their data is stored, how it is used and how they can exert greater control over it.

This will have a profound impact. Firms that recognise the need to empower users will have the greatest longevity. For instance, people are becoming tired and sceptical of seemingly irrelevant advertising that appears on their social media feeds. This occurs as a result of the tech giants shame­­lessl­­­­­­­y harvesting and commercialising user data in ways that lack any sort of visibility.

The cloud has been an enabler for this misuse, but it must also be the saviour. When giving away personal data or files, Millennials and Generation Z are growing more discerning - and this is forcing a rethink for service providers.

Fortunately, the answers to data misuse - respect for privacy and transparency - go hand in hand with security, the other major issue of concern to users. The gradual erosion in trust in the tech giants has been exacerbated by the large number of data breaches and cyber attacks.

Client-side encryption, for instance, is one way to demonstrate that the customer is in control, and also means that cyber attacks on the tech firm with the aim of stealing sensitive data will be fruitless. Another example would be giving users choice over the location of where their data is stored. European data centres operate under different rules to the US - and consumers are increasingly aware of this and are making their choices accordingly. Rather than bringing tech companies out in a cold sweat, they should be a fundamental part of their strategy.

From a business perspective too, much of the global workforce has undergone an enforced remote working trial this year, and familiarity with cloud-based collaboration tools is at an all-time high.

Now that the initial scramble to maintain continuity is over - and firms settle into what is likely to be at least a hybrid work policy for the foreseeable future - the cloud storage market is going to be under greater scrutiny than ever. Choice, visibility and security are among the biggest priorities such providers should look to offer if they are to increase market share in this brave new world.

Tunio Zafer is CEO of pCloud