Is it possible to take advantage of the benefits of data collection - and mitigate risks - for both companies and customers?

Most consumers are not very skilled at evaluating privacy risks; they’re either unable to determine the cost of sharing personal data online or unaware of what they’re sharing. (Doesn’t everyone scroll down without reading to click ‘I accept’?)

Without much intervention from most federal or state-level governments, companies are on their own to define what qualifies as reasonable use. In today’s digital surveillance economy, there are no clear-cut best practices or guidelines. Gathering and using information can help customers - we see that in personalisation and autofill of online forms. But companies must act in the best interest of their customers and treat the sensitive information users give them with the ethical care of doctors, lawyers, and financial advisers. The challenges of operating in a digital ecosystem aren’t going away.

Customer Data and Privacy: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will help you understand the tangled interdependencies and complexities and develop strategies that allow your company to be good stewards, collecting, using, and storing customer data responsibly. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company’s future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR’s smartest thinking on fast-moving issues - blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more - each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organisation needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow.

You can’t afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas - and prepare you and your company for the future.