The IT Nerd

New research from OpenText reveals that nearly half (49%) of Canadian consumers would pay more to do business with an organization that is committed to protecting their data privacy.

The new data – from a survey of 2,000 Canadian respondents – highlights public uncertainty and distrust around how organisations handle their data. Almost half (40%) of Canadians don’t trust that organisations can keep their personal data safe or private. This is despite increasingly stringent standards for data privacy as new regulations emerge worldwide, including the 2018 introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Severe GDPR infringements can result in fines of up to €20m or 4 percent of a company’s total global annual turnover, whichever is greater.

Getting to grips with data privacy

More than three quarters (78%) of Canadian consumers “don’t have a clue” how many organizations use, store or have access to their personal data, including their email addresses, contact numbers and bank details. Yet a third (30%) say they are very aware of the laws that protect their personal data – compared to UK (48%), Germany (44%), Australia (36%), Spain (32%) and France (32%). An additional third (39%) of Canadian respondents confirm they have at least some understanding of these regulations. 

In fact, more than  one quarter  (27%) of Canadian  consumers say they would proactively get in touch with an organization to see how it is using their personal data or to check if it is storing their personal data in a compliant manner. More than one in ten (13%) have already done so at least once.

Taking responsibility for data privacy

Over half (57%) of Canadian consumers feel they know how to keep their own data private and secure on apps, email accounts and social media platforms, from using privacy settings to turning off geolocation. Yet almost one fifth (19%) believe keeping their data private and secure on apps, email accounts and social media is the responsibility of the app or company in question.

Just one in 10 (10%) Canadian  consumers believe we are already at the point when every business is meeting its legal obligations to keep customer data private – similar to the UK, but fewer than in Spain (17%), Germany (13%) and France (11%). In fact, almost a quarter (24%) of the Canadian public either see this as a distant future or believe it will never happen.

Methodology

This research was conducted through Google Surveys from April-May 2020. Commissioned by OpenText, 12,000 consumers were anonymously surveyed globally, across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

The Canadian research polled 2,000 respondents to offer a snapshot of consumer perspectives on data privacy during the coronavirus crisis.

This entry was posted on August 26, 2020 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.