Why your data matters- The Guardian sets the standard for corporate data responsibility

We should all be thankful to The Guardian for covering data and privacy stories more than any other large news provider. But also for this short video : http://www.theguardian.com/why-your-data-matters.

If you haven’t already seen it, I suggest you watch it - it’s only 1:35 long. Seen it? Great! A simple explanation for the data exchange.

I believe corporate data responsibility will soon become a marketable asset - consumers will start to care about what happens to their data and companies who explain why they want your data, what they plan to do with it and how they won’t abuse it will be a good thing.

The Guardian has provided a succinct explanation of who they are, how they are funded, how they make money using our data; the advantages of this business model; how the data can serve us as well as them and how to manage the data they have about us.

If you were going to look up a “how-to” for communicating your data model to your audience that would probably be it.

Communicating your data model to your audience is handy for separating yourself from your competitors, showing that you’re taking the lead in protecting consumer data and helping the consumer to protect themselves, too.

It’s another way to get ahead and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Other companies are waking up to the point that consumer trust is hard won and can be a real differentiator. Losing it through data breaches can be costly and time consuming to remedy .Microsoft, for example are starting to talk about personal data security a lot more as it slowly shifts into the public eye.

In the future, I expect to see a wider adoption of this type of activity amongst premium B2C brands and then trickling down to all businesses. Empowering the customer to control their data leads to better data quality in most cases, too.

Christine Andrews is Managing Director of DataIQ Consulting and a member of the DMA’s Data Council.