Building digital trust is more important than ever before, according to ISACA’s latest free report, “Digital Trust: A Modern-Day Imperative.” The white paper defines digital trust, explains why it is so essential in the modern economy and offers insight into how it can be achieved.
The white paper indicates that 70 percent of survey respondents say trusting a brand is more important than it was in the past and that trust is the second biggest factor when purchasing from a new brand.
The report offers a closer look into the perspectives of both the consumer and provider regarding the topic of digital trust. The definition of digital trust is examined, and readers get a peek inside what digital trust looks like in practice while discovering how ISACA professionals are uniquely positioned to lead the way in digital trust-related services.
The report reveals that customers make buying decisions based on trust and consider six factors when determining the level of trust they will assign to an organization, including:
- Quality – If the quality of the received product or service does not meet consumer expectations, the trust may be damaged.
- Availability – Not being able to access information can have a negative impact on consumers, as can inaccurate information such as a lack of product availability or inconsistent website pricing.
- Security/Privacy – Sufficient controls should be put in place to protect information or customers can endure potentially dangerous consequences.
- Ethics & Integrity – Consumers tend to select businesses that align with their personal values, but if a provider pivots, that trust can erode.
- Transparency & Honesty – The more open, honest and clear an organization is in regard to its policies and procedures, the more trust it may inspire.
- Resiliency – It isn’t just about an organization’s ability to protect itself, but how it recovers from cyberattacks that can prove its digital trustworthiness to consumers.
From a provider perspective, the report reveals that digital trust can offer a competitive advantage to enterprises and that such trust is vital to an enterprise’s bottom line. Consumers who have trusted a brand for a long time are more likely to buy from that brand first, stay loyal to it, advocate for it and defend it, compared to consumers who did not fully trust a brand.
When it comes to digital trust in practice, results concluded that freely given consent from consumers regarding data collection is foundational for transparency, which is one of the most important elements of digital trust. Techniques used to trick or indirectly influence data subjects to make a specific choice will not inspire trust in consumers.
The importance of collecting the right types of necessary data was also emphasized, while removing superfluous data from aggregation and collection.
Lastly, the report explained how ISACA is perfectly positioned to advance digital trust as ISACA professionals are global IT audit, governance, security, risk and privacy experts and, therefore, are digital trust practitioners themselves. Digital trust cannot exist without each of these domains operating effectively.
To learn more about the white paper’s findings, download Digital Trust: A Modern-Day Imperative.