Cyber security initiatives are an excellent opportunity for CX teams to deliver even more secure, trusted and enjoyable customer experiences. Greg Bell, the U.S. leader at KPMG Cyber, explains, “In too many industries, information security is still seen as a technology risk to be minimised instead of a business issue to be optimised.”
Cyber security involves protecting business systems and intellectual property, internal documents, and other sensitive information from attacks[2]. Cyber security is also concerned with protecting customer data and preventing harm or disruptions and attacks on customer digital experiences, often referred to as Clickjacking.
There are a variety of cyber threats that can disrupt the customer journey and business operations overall, from malware attacks and data breaches to customer journey hacking (for a complete list of cyber threats and preventative measures for small businesses, check out this small business cyber security guide).
70% of organisations have experienced a malware attack, Malware is a piece of software designed to disrupt another program or network.
Botnet attacks, or attacks by a large number of connected devices, are also a common type of cyber attack, as are attacks from a disgruntled employee.
Fortunately, businesses have many options for protecting themselves against cyber threats. Besides the obvious benefit of not having internal operations disrupted, organizations have much to gain from a business operation, CX, and revenue perspectives, as well.
Let’s now take a deeper look at the benefit of adopting a stronger approach to cyber security.
Why should businesses invest in cyber security?
If an organisation wants to:
- Protect customer and employee data
- Secure intellectual property (IP) and other sensitive information
- Retain customer and employee trust
- Avoid disruptions to internal business operations
- Avoid costly and reputation-damaging lawsuits
- Take a proactive instead of a reactive approach to managing risks then they should invest in cyber security.
In other words, investing in cyber security comes down to preventing disruptions to your customers experiences, their wellbeing and other risks cyber-attacks pose.
A more robust approach to cyber security gives brands an opportunity to enhance their customer relationship.
85% of consumers worldwide said they wished there were more companies they could trust with their data, for example. Another 60% of consumers said they expected an organization they do business with to face a data breach one day.
Unsurprisingly, 48% of people stopped using a service when that company disclosed a data breach.
Investing in cyber security initiatives can help businesses to maintain existing customers’ trust in a company and even encourage longer-term relationships with that brand. Developing a reputation for protecting customers’ data could also help to attract future clients.
Protecting customers is just one benefit of adopting more cyber security measures however, considering data breaches cost an average of $3.86 million, taking a proactive approach to cyber safety could save businesses millions in lawsuits and lost productivity.
Although IT will be concerned with an organisation’s cyber safety, cyber security should be everyone’s business and a concern for those outside of technical teams as well.
CX teams should contribute to cyber initiatives that can not only retain customer trust but make sure each step along their journey is preventing and or managing a potential attack to maintain and improve customer satisfaction.
Why should CX professionals care about cyber security?
CX professionals should enhance their peripheral vision and participate in cyber security initiatives so they can craft better customer experiences.
For example, 27% of consumers want compensation after a breach and 22% want to be notified about what happened and how it’s being resolved.
CX teams can lean on voice of the customer (VOC) programs to understand how customers would prefer businesses to respond after cyber breaches and collaborate with colleagues to deliver on those expectations.
Doing so demonstrates a Customer Centric Mindset by Thinking and Acting for the customers wellbeing.
To make the most of your customer insights, enrol in Managing CX’ upcoming Customer Experience Excellence Course for a personalized deep dive into the CXPA CX competencies that will empower you with the knowledge and skills to design the full end to end Customer Experience Strategy. We’ll take a deeper dive into why customer experience teams should be concerned with cyber security in the second part of the series, but suffice to say that CX teams should view cyber security as yet another opportunity to gain customers’ trust and loyalty.
This is Part I of a III part Series. We’ll take a deeper dive into why customer experience teams should be concerned with cyber security in the second part of the series, but suffice to say that CX teams should view cyber security as yet another opportunity to gain customers’ trust and loyalty.