Privacy and Profit

Author: Clarip Director of Sales

Filed away under the category of “nice problems to have,” I recently read an article in the Washington Post about a Powerball winner that did not want to reveal her identity.

Placing a value on her own safety and anonymity, the winner – a woman in New Hampshire – has yet to claim her jackpot from January (nearly $560 million!) because under New Hampshire law, a lottery winner’s name, town and prize amount are considered public information. Though the legal battle likely to come will focus upon the “public’s right to know” and good governance, the issue itself points to a larger reality in 2018 that is of the utmost importance for C-Level executives. Namely, people’s privacy is a valuable commodity and in recognizing it as such, the opportunity to increase profit is an ancillary benefit of respecting customer choice and privacy.

For those that are regular reader’s of my blog, you may know that I wear two hats: a former constitutional law professor as well as the Director of Sales with Clarip. To me, this case cuts across both realms as it fundamentally points to the inherent value of one’s privacy as well as the opportunities for executives to monetize the issue and drive sales. Please allow me to explain.

30 years ago, though largely recognized as a “fringe” issue, the environment rarely played a role in business and/or government financial projections. Yet today, even according to the “Bible of Business,” — Forbes magazine — going “green” has been shown to help companies, improve their bottom line, improve worker morale and drive increased productivity. So too can it be with respecting customer privacy. According to recent academic analysis, “in recent years, governments and regulators have emphasized that respect for data protection and privacy should be seen as a way to strengthen confidence in online commerce, and have encouraged the growth of the professional side of privacy; indeed, there is evidence that viewing privacy as a business enabler can itself be a powerful factor to encourage respect for regulation.”

In business terms, this points to a trend that is a “win, win” – customers get to consent to how data is shared and with whom and businesses, and particularly executives like CPO’s, General Counsel’s and CISO’s, get to protect themselves from needless liability and exposure, drive brand loyalty, and improve their bottom line. At Clarip, this is our “cup of tea!” Visit us at www.clarip.com and find out how we can help you deal with privacy and in turn, profit!

More from Clarip:

Are you ready for the new CA privacy law? Start preparing compliance efforts with Clarip for the California Consumer Privacy Act. Enforcement starts January 1, 2020 so better start planning funding in your 2019 budget now.

Read the most recent posts on the Clarip Privacy Blog.

Learn more about the Clarip consent management solution.

Find more resources about GDPR, data privacy and the future ePrivacy Regulation.