• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 30, 2023

Given the need to get messages delivered, email teams have more than a passing interest in privacy.

But satisfying consumer demands in this area bestows other benefits, judging by Privacy’s Growing Importance and Impact, a study released last week by Cisco Secure.

For instance, 36% of companies are getting a return on investment of at least twice their spending, while 6% are seeing a return on investment of 3x to 5x their spending, 24% are seeing 2x to 3x and 6% are enjoying 5x and above.  

Overall, 47% of firms are seeing ROI of 1x to 2x their spending.    

In addition, brands that invest in privacy enjoy these benefits:

• Loyalty and trust — 75% 
• Mitigating security losses — 75% 
• Agility and innovation — 74% 
• Operational efficiency — 74% 
• More attractive company — 74%
• Reducing sales delays — 71% 
• Average — 74% 

Moreover, 95% of companies feel that privacy is a business imperative, and the same percentage claims privacy is an integral part of their culture.

In addition, 94% believe their customers won’t buy from them if their data is not properly protected.  

And they are willing to spend on it. In 2022, the average firm spent $2.7 million privacy, the same as 2021, but up from the $2.4 million reported in 2020 and $1.2 million in 2019.

The financial benefit? An average of $3.4 million, versus $3.0 million in 2021.  

Enterprise firms with 10,000+ employees derive $4.1 million in benefit, up from $3.8 million in 2021 but the same as 2019. 

Still, as often happens, consumers and companies have different views of the priorities.

Consumers say the following actions build trust:

• Provide clear information as to how their data is being used — 39%
• Refrain from selling their information — 21%
• Comply with all relevant privacy laws — 20% 
• Enable them to configure their privacy settings —  10% 
• Avoid having data breaches that might expose their data — 9% 

Here is how organizations see the priorities:

• Comply with all relevant privacy laws — 30%
• Provide clear information as to how their data is being used — 26%
• Refrain from selling their information — 21%
• Avoid having data breaches that might expose their data — 17% 
• Enable them to configure their privacy settings — 5% 

At the same time 92% of businesses agree that their organization needs to do more than reassure customers their data is being used for legitimate purposes.  

Do organizations forward privacy metrics to the board? Yes — 98% report one or more privacy related metrics -- up from 94% in the prior year.

These metrics include: 

• Data breaches — 41% 
• Data protection impact assessments — 39%
• Incident response — 37%
• Audits — 35%
• Privacy gaps identified — 34%
• Protection as to third parties — 33%
• Data subject requests — 27%
• Progress on an industry-standard maturity model — 22%
• Value of privacy for your organization — 21% 
• Training of employees — 21% 

This data was derived from the Cisco Security Outcomes survey, a poll of more than 4,700 security professionals from 26 geographies, conducted in summer 2022. Cisco Secure also surveyed 2,600 consumers in 12 geographies.