The volume of data that organisations collect is growing at an unprecedented rate. This is driven largely by the ever-evolving Internet of Things and unstructured data generated through social media, media and other online activities like product purchases and customer reviews.
Although we know that data helps organisations to understand consumer behaviours, pinpoint efficiency gaps, spot growth potentials, and mitigate risks, there’s also a tendency to gather copious amounts of information, feed it into algorithms, and hope for insights. To really get the most out of data, it is vital to have a clear idea of how an information management and governance system can be utilised to support broader strategies, helping them achieve the objectives while keeping their increasingly data-conscious customers happy. In particular organisations should be very careful when holding and sharing personal data.
With that in mind, there are some tried and tested ways that organisations can prepare for the data revolution:
Data Stewardship
When collecting data, there’s an obligation to use it responsibly, especially in sectors that are highly regulated. As GDPR’s requirements continue to tighten, it’s vitally important for businesses that rely on personal information concerning European data subjects to manage personally identifiable information ethically and legally, ensuring that they’re in complete control of their data. Applying a more structured approach to data collection and management isn’t just a legal necessity, it helps support optimised operational practices.
Abiding by GDPR’s rules and regulations, however, should be the baseline and organisations such as NRENs and educational institutions should really be looking to go the extra mile to keep data collection to a minimum.
Working with data minimisation in mind
On thinking more ‘data minimal’, organisation should only be collecting and releasing personal data that is adequate, relevant, and limited to what’s necessary. Storing personal information that goes above and beyond these limitations can, in most cases, lead to a lack of user trust – which is imperative for ensuring continuity in a digitised day and age. Not only this, increased data storage makes you a bigger target for hackers, inevitably increasing the risk of unauthorised access without consent. By embedding data minimisation principles into your way of life, you’ll be protecting not just your users, but yourself too.
Building trust
Now that our day-to-day lives largely revolve around the internet, our society is more tech-savvy and data-aware than ever before. Customers are growing more concerned about how their personal information is stored, and if we fail to prove that we’re trustworthy enough, they’ll struggle to keep up amidst the data revolution. To help build and maintain trust we should demonstrate that data privacy sits at the epicentre, ensuring that anything that requires data collection or verification is quick, easy to use, and reliable.
Partnering with a real-time verification service
These core principles are behind the InAcademia service, we understand that keeping up with such a rapidly evolving technology and data landscape can be overwhelming. Our real-time, secure student verification software is both easy to use and helps you strip back on unnecessary data collection and release, placing you as responsible stewards of student data in the era of the data revolution.
Find out more about how InAcademia supports GDPR here
