With the rise of digital technology, the relationship between corporations and its customers is changing in new and deeper ways. This includes corporations asking for personal information and tracking its customer’s online behavior. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that whilst driving the corporation to success in an age of digital transformation, gaining the trust of their customer’s simultaneously is essential to the success of an enterprise.
We often see issues regarding privacy such as security hacks, illegal surveillance, misuse of personal data, spreading of fake news, algorithmic flaws and lack of transparency shown on the news. Trust can now be seen as a form of competitive advantage, as unethical and/ or lack of transparency, causes damage to the reputation and ultimately to the corporation’s success.
I believe that the source of skepticism from the customer’s does not derive from actual loss of privacy but mainly from the perception of loss of control. It is the fact that the customers don’t actually know what is going on, that leaves them concerned and powerless. So, what can corporations do to gain trust? Surprisingly the same technologies that drives digital transformation can also be used to gain trust. However, it is impossible to gain long-term trust solely through technology, the trust stems from the corporation’s moral code and core beliefs.
In order to tackle this problem, it is important to ask the question “Where is the knowledge gap between the corporation and its customers” and “How can technology help to bridge this gap”.
Firstly, related to transparency, corporations need to make business terms (e.g. terms and conditions, privacy policies, etc.) easy to understand. This can be done by implementing conversation interfaces (ideally supported by AI).
Secondly, it is important for firms to clarify decisions made by algorithms, as a decision without an explanation can lead to confusion. Organizations are already starting to implement this procedure through XAI, which states how they have reached its decision. This is especially important in industries such as the medical industry, where making the right decision is crucial.
Thirdly, addressing customer complaints in a timely fashion is important. This also can be assisted by technology as it can sort the most urgent/ important complaints and route it to the right personnel (e.g. in the insurance industry)
Fourthly, it is also important for companies to concern about its stakeholder’s welfare. Just as coffees at McDonalds label “Careful Hot!”, digital controls should prevent unethical or misuse of technology. This can already be seen nowadays in Online games, as after a certain period the game advises the user to stop playing.
These are just a few examples of how technology can be used to gain customer’s trust. As technology gets better, new ways to provide transparency may follow. Already today we see how automation and AI is providing more security for their users, e.g. alerting users of a suspicious activity (Gmail login from different device) and the use of AI to reduce fraudulent behavior.
As data is becoming increasingly prevalent, it is important that privacy and security becomes tightly woven into the core beliefs of the firm.
Deloitte Insights. (2019). Building digital trust: Technology can lead the way. [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/digital-transformation/building-long-term-trust-in-digital-technology.html?id=gx%3A2sm%3A3li%3A4digitaltrust%3A%3A6di%3A20191015202200%3A%3A2739295633&utm_source=li&utm_campaign=digitaltrust&utm_content=di&utm_medium=social&linkId=75366516&fbclid=IwAR1xCLfdY0ussqLjEmsj4c5jAZgXRiON9epeTN8Rqoqk61lTO4_gUOSn5EY [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].
Thanks for this interesting point of view! Next to a feeling of losing control over our data also public distrust of emerging technologies might add to that. The idea of using conversation interfaces is nice and might be useful, however, I feel like, especially when we are browsing the internet, accepting a company’s terms and conditions, cookies or the like very often happens out of convenience and comfort. If we’d bother to read every companies’ statements, e.g. desk research would take ages – leading to the next question whether the EU General Data Protection Regulation was actually well implemented.