More than half of UK consumers think companies are not being honest about how they use personal data – and less than a fifth (22%) trust them to do the right thing with it.
The survey also found UK consumers consider credit card, financial data and tax information to be more private than either information about their children or their own health.
These findings come from research conducted by Boston Consulting Group and law firm DLA Piper into the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on businesses.
The report, Leveraging GDPR to Become a Trusted Data Steward, accused companies of “reckless conservatism” – failing to pursue opportunities to use data that customers are open to, while at the same time not telling customers what they’re doing with their data when they do.
Elias Baltassis, director at BCG and co-author of the report said: “Companies were substantially less likely than consumers to think that third-party use of consumer data is acceptable. These results suggest companies are being unduly conservative in their pursuit of new data uses, in the hope their caution will insulate them from risk – but then they turn around and antagonise their consumers anyway by not informing them of the uses they do make of the data.”
The study urged companies to go beyond simply compliance with the regulation and take “modest extra steps” to foster consumer trust and “achieve significant competitive advantage”.
Separate research recently revealed only a quarter of European organisations are GDPR compliant, with many choosing “short-sighted” approaches to the regulation that will require “radical revision” before the deadline.
