An organization’s ability to navigate digital trust is essential in preventing its financial and reputational downfall, according to ISACA’s newly released second annual State of Digital Trust research.
The consequences of consumers mistrusting enterprises can include loss of customers, regulatory fines and sanctions, displeased shareholders, anxious employees, and more. Without a solid foundation of digital trust, recovering from these problems will prove to be much more costly – financially, and in terms of time and energy.
The key components of digital trust as outlined by ISACA are quality, availability, security and privacy, ethics and integrity, transparency and honesty, and resiliency. Upholding these factors is critical in gaining the trust of consumers, especially when transactions are conducted online through a screen and there are no handshakes sealing deals with another person.
Organizations experience many benefits from dedicating time and energy toward establishing and maintaining digital trust. Some of the advantages revealed in the report include positive reputations, more reliable data for decision-making, fewer privacy breaches and cybersecurity incidents, stronger customer loyalty, faster innovation due to confidence in technology and systems, and higher revenue.
When it comes to feeling assured of their organization’s digital trustworthiness, only 53% of respondents to the ISACA survey reported that they are confident, but this percentage jumps to 81% among those that measure digital trust maturity. Some of the most common ways to measure this maturity are through customer satisfaction surveys, customer retention, customer/client research, internal reviews and benchmarking against similar enterprises.
“As organizations move to a digital-first business model, trust is the essential component that must be earned before, during and after every interaction,” said Tracey Dedrick, interim CEO of ISACA. “Digital trust is a holistic, organized approach and offers a new and integrated way for organizations to look at what they are already doing. Digital trust is an umbrella that ensures existing functions are operating in sync and in the most optimal manner to ensure others have trust in the organization. A digital trust framework that is aligned with enterprise goals is essential and can contribute to impactful positive outcomes."
Generally, when comparing global averages from this year to last year’s report, there is an increase in respondents who report organizations offering digital trust training to their staff, understanding how their role impacts digital trust and how relevant digital trust is to their job. This comparison highlights the increase in organizations’ awareness of and importance placed on implementing digital trust. Recognizing the roles that employees play in digital trust is crucial, and training them appropriately so that they have a deep and personal understanding of this trust is the next step in ensuring it is present throughout all levels of an enterprise.
For more highlights and insights into digital trust, view the full State of Digital Trust 2023: An ISACA Global Research Report, and dive deeper into these digital trust findings on 24 May by attending the State of Digital Trust 2023 webinar.
For more conversations with digital trust professionals and industry leaders, join us for ISACA Conference 2023: Digital Trust World virtually 21-22 June and in Dublin 17-19 October.