Credit: Deloitte
Australia's IT
industry is among some of the least trusted to share personal information online, according to a new
report from Deloitte.
The global systems integrator’s 2022 edition of its Deloitte Australian Privacy Index, found the IT industry was tied for second place in least trustworthiness alongside retail.
The report, which surveyed 1,000 Australian consumers over the age of 18, gave the IT industry a data comfort score of 4.2, tying it with retail.
The score was based on how comfortable respondents are with sharing personal information with 10 selected industry types.
Real estate scored a 4.1, making it the least-trusted industry with personal
information.
As a point of comparison, the public sector scored the highest, at 7.4. Following this was education and employment at 6.9 and energy and utilities with 6.6.
The industry rankings come as the report found overall that 43 per cent of consumers said they were happy to share personal information when they are aware how that information will be used.
“Consumers have gone about surviving the last two years defined by COVID, but they’ve shared more personal data than ever before – with governments and businesses – in exchange for various freedoms and access to products and services,” said Deloitte national privacy and data protection lead partner Daniella Kafouris.
“Working, learning, buying and even entertaining from home and online has significantly shifted the dial in positive and perhaps not-so-positive ways – from consumers benefiting from greater personalisation in their digital experiences, to genuine concerns about how their data is used.
“What is clear is that a disconnect remains between consumer expectations and how brands collect and use personal data. As a result, there needs to be a better balance between consumers finding personalisation helpful and what could be considered over-reaching.”
Kafouris added that businesses need to take customers on a “transparency journey throughout the customer experience” as opposed to just bombarding them with legal documents like privacy policies.
“Brands certainly need to take their customers on a transparency journey throughout the customer experience, rather than relying on legal documents like their privacy policy, to builds trust before things get ‘creepy’ and ultimately counter-productive and even damaging," he said.
To improve a business’ privacy perception, Deloitte recommended five key takeaways. In line with Kafouris’ belief on the transparency journey, the first takeaway is to provide transparent disclosures, past privacy policies and collection statements about how personal information is used.
The second is to use consistent language to describe online tracking and monitoring activities. Setting privacy as default is the third, as users are likely to not change any default options.
“Consumers have shown us that they are unlikely to actively make changes to their setting yet are unhappy with their location information being used and shared,” the report stated.
“Default settings involving the collection and use of location information should protect the privacy of the individual.”
The last two takeaways the GSI found are allowing consumers to provide preferences for personalisation directly and to communicate privacy protections upfront.
“Consumers told us that the security of their personal information is the leading factor when considering sharing that information with a brand,” the report added.
