Privacy a key concern among consumers, companies: ForbesInsights study

Big Data is an essential part of every media company's repertoire, but how far can companies go with collecting personal data without infringing on privacy? ForbesInsight explored privacy practices in business enterprises around the world with their 2013 study, "The Promise of Privacy: Respecting Consumers Limits While Realizing the Market Benefits of Big Data". Of the hundreds of executives interviewed from businesses around the world, 85 percent agree that privacy breaches are bad for customer relationships, reputations and the bottom line. The larger the company, the more likely they were to strongly agree.

Companies are collecting personal data from a variety of customer touchpoints. Sixty-five percent of the executives surveyed said their companies collect website log data, while 60 percent collect from their call center, 53 percent in person, 50 percent from mobile, 49 percent from loyalty cards, 46 percent from social media, and 44 percent from both direct mail and from affinity programs. The majority of the respondents said their companies track consumers on digital media using cookies, 61 percent; website "pathing", 58 percent; loyalty and affinity programs, 53 percent; unique coupon codes, 43 percent; digital conversion of call center activity, 38 percent; and video cameras, 36 percent. The main goal for collecting these data are to create a single view of the customer, according to more than three-quarters of the respondents.

The responding companies are finding the most benefit from collection of data by applying it to product development, 64 percent; followed by pricing, 63 percent; website and design function, 58 percent; call center operations, 53 percent; and fulfillment, 48 percent, according to the survey.