Research commissioned by analytics company Verint has shown that 98% of 2 000 South Africans surveyed say concerns around data privacy and security remain at the top of the consumer agenda.
According to the research, South Africans that took part in the survey think it is important to know how secure their personal information is, while 93% believe it's important to know whether their data will be passed on to third parties for marketing purposes. By comparison globally, a little less than 89% of 24 000 consumers surveyed across 12 countries felt it the same way. An even less 86% believed it's important to know whether their data will be passed on to third parties for marketing purposes, compared to 93%.
The findings are part of a whitepaper titled The Digital Tipping Point: How Do Organisations Balance the Demands for Digital and Human Customer Service? that was done in conjunction with research and advisory firm IDC.
The research, which was commissioned from 23 June to 20 July 2016, interviewed 24 001 consumers, 2 000 consumers in each of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, US, the UK and the SA. The research was conducted online, in the local language for each country.
According to Ryan Hollenbeck, Verint SVP global marketing and customer experience programme executive sponsor, companies have a difficult balancing act to negotiate between security, transparency and a personalised experience. "It's something that organisations across all sectors have to get right or risk losing valuable customers. Today's brands must work to ensure greater transparency over the use of customer data and build trust and confidence in this increasingly challenging environment."
The survey also highlights the continued importance of personalised customer service, with 92% of the South African consumers liking service from their providers that is personalised to them and their needs compared with only 80% of the consumers surveyed in the other countries.
Marije Gould, Verint vice president of marketing: EMEA, says this introduces a challenge for many organisations because to provide highly personalised offerings they must have a greater understanding of their customers' needs, purchasing histories and preferences. That translates into collecting, analysing and holding customer data related to these preferences and behaviours. Together, this creates a dichotomy, as it's very clear from the research that consumers have growing concern over their privacy and the use of the data. "It comes down to getting the basics right, using technology and analytics to better understand what's really on the minds of customers, and then working to help ensure the right resources are in place to address evolving needs and requirements."
This white paper looked at the responses from particular age groups, namely the millennials who are aged 18-35, generation X who are aged 36-50, baby boomers who are aged between 51-70 years and the silent generation which is anyone aged over 70.
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