Only 41% of the customers in India trust organizations providing digital services for personal data protection, according to a study sponsored by Microsoft and conducted by IDC.
The study, titled, Understanding Consumer Trust in Digital Services in Asia Pacific, shows the customers’ expectations and experiences with digital services when it comes to trusting the organizations providing these services.
The opinions of the customers were based on five elements of trust— privacy, security, reliability, ethics, and compliance. Customers considered security (86%), privacy (85%), and compliance (82%), as the top three most important elements of trust.
“The upside for organizations with a trusted digital platform is tremendous as India is one of the largest and fastest growing digital services markets in Asia Pacific where almost all of the transactions and interactions here would be digital in the near future,” said Keshav Dhakad, Group Head & Assistant General Counsel – Corporate, External & Legal Affairs (CELA), Microsoft India.
“However, despite consumers’ increasing dependence on digital services, there is still a considerable trust gap that needs to be addressed. Most consumers still do not perceive organizations to be trusted data stewards. It is clear that businesses need to do a lot more to understand what drives consumer trust and focus on how they can build trust and make it a key competitive advantage for their digital services,” Keshav added.
Around half (46%) of Indian customers said that their trust was compromised when using digital services. 51% of customers reported that they will change the service provider, whereas 32% said that they will reduce the usage of digital services.
One-third of the customers (32%) would completely stop the use of digital services if their data is compromised. Further, only 7% of customers choose to go with the organization that provides cheaper but less trusted digital platform.
73% of customers would recommend the trusted organization and its services to others even if the costs are higher.
“Trust is critical for organizations to succeed in this digital world as consumers overwhelmingly prefer to transact with organizations with a trusted digital platform,” said Ranganath Sadasiva, Director – Enterprise Solutions, IDC India. “As competition between digital services become more intense and global in nature, advocacy through word of mouth can be a strong differentiator for the organization and a shot in the arm for the brand.”
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Customers feel that along with the organizations that provide digital service, the broader industry should be responsible for building trust. The broader industry can include institutions which set rules and regulations.
As per the study, customers in India responded that tech companies (46%) and governments (34%), should be responsible for building trust. There is a need for a stronger collaboration between the private and public sector.
