Ways to Address Customer Data Privacy Issues in Digital Marketing

In the previous piece, we discussed customer data privacy issues in digital marketing. Let's recap the main points. So, today the struggle for data has reached the state level: the GDPR in the EU, the CLOUD Act in the USA, the Personal Information Protection Law in China, and ecosystems shutdown can completely monopolize the customer data market.

This suggests that in the current situation, there is one right solution: to build an independent system for collecting and managing customer data for direct and secure communication with customers in the digital environment. We are going to tell you more about this in today's piece.

Cloud-based marketing automation services risks

We agree that the adoption of the CLOUD Act greatly undermines measures to protect customer private information. Besides, you cannot be sure of companies claiming that they conform to the key principles of the GDPR.

Major market players understand the importance of protecting private data provided to them. Companies are concerned that their data may be illegally used for commercial purposes.

The strategic issue for successful business in the digital sphere is the sole possession of customer data. That's why the struggle for data will only intensify.

The number of cloud service users has grown significantly in recent years. Now the huge volumes of data are stored beyond the jurisdiction in which they were created. Besides, using SaaS solutions, companies cannot ensure proper protection of the received data.

DLA PIPER has conducted research that demonstrates the unreliable protection of confidential information in certain countries.

Here are some more reasons why you should not store private data in cloud storage:

(1) Scalability of the service resources is not available;

(2) Data cannot be uploaded/transferred;

(3) Exclusion of liability;

(4) Cloud storage can also crash:

• In March 2021, Microsoft Teams, Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 went down.

• Also in March 2021, Oracle Cloud (all 17 zones) was down for an hour and a half. According to Oracle, the reason was public DNS servers that had been incorrectly configured.

• On October 13, 2021, OVH, the second largest hosting provider in Europe, went offline during scheduled maintenance.

• On October 4, 2021, the world witnessed a massive Facebook outage. A number of its subsidiaries (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus) also went down. The services were not working for more than 7 hours.

(5) Risk of complete data loss;

(6) The development cannot be influenced;

(7) There is no clear understanding of who uses the data and how.

All this leads to problems that need to be solved:

• To ensure the security of your data and customer data;
• To track your customer and organize data collection in the digital environment;
• To build an independent digital system of interaction with customers.

We offer several solutions.

Private Cloud

What is a private cloud: pros and cons

A Private cloud is a cloud solution, the software resources of which are intended solely for one organization. You can embed a private cloud either in the infrastructure of your company or in a multi-user cloud infrastructure. Organizations choose a private cloud because it is more reliable than a public one. Only certain employees have access to the data, which enhances security and minimizes leakage risks.

Advantages of a private cloud:

• Full control over the choice of hardware and software.
• Freedom to configure hardware and software in any way.
• Increased level of data security and confidentiality.
• Advanced integration capabilities with other services.

Disadvantages of a private cloud:

• Installation payment.
• Scaling is not as fast as in a public cloud.
• Higher total cost of ownership for small data volumes.

In-House development

What is in-house development: pros and cons

In-house development is when your company experts are involved in the development of software. The success or failure of this venture depends only on you. You are recruiting a team of developers to achieve your goal. At the same time, each specialist is responsible for their task.

Team building is a long and important process. If you manage to gather experts interested in the case, you will be surrounded by dedicated people who you can count on in the future.

Advantages of in-house development:

• The possibility of expanding your services.
• No need to buy third-party software.
• Independence from vendors.

Disadvantages of in-house development:

• The development time is 3-4 years.
• Lack of specialization in marketing technologies.
• Shortage of IT resources.
• High costs for the staff of developers.
• The result may not meet the requirements/the wrong stack of technologies may be obtained.
• Spending the budget on a third-party solution while your own is being developed.
• The need for ongoing software support.
• Infrastructure maintenance costs.

As you can tell, this solution has more disadvantages than advantages. There is no guarantee that you will succeed in the end.

On-Premise

What is on-premise solution: advantages and disadvantages

On-Premise is a software package that is deployed by the customer on their own server equipment. Its support and administration are also conducted by the customer. The customer purchases only the program (the license) and provides everything that is required for its full operation independently.

Advantages of on-premise:

• You will get a ready-made solution «‎here and now».
• You will not have to maintain a team of developers.
• All security requirements are met.
• You can integrate it with internal databases and services.
• Technical support of software is conducted by the vendor.

Disadvantages of on-premise:

• Higher total cost of ownership.
• Dependance on an external vendor for product modifications.
• Complicated tariff design.
• Bureaucratic barriers to implementation and the need for procurement approval.

Altcraft Platform

On-Premise and Private Cloud

What should large and medium-sized businesses choose to ensure information security? Nowadays, digital platforms that can deploy as a private cloud or on-premise solution are an excellent choice for your business. By embedding such an on-premise marketing software as Altcraft Platform into the corporate network, the organization prevents the possibility of a personal data breach. All operations with confidential information are conducted within the company. The organization has full control over the data, excluding outside interference.

Why is our Altcraft Platform what you need?

► Transparent tariff system:

• all modules are included at once;
• unlimited number of messages;
• unlimited amount of stored data for the entire period of use.

► Scalable architecture optimized for heavy workloads.

► No need to buy more commercial databases or OS.

► Users influence product development and, if necessary, order modifications.

A lot of banks, insurance and logistics companies, payment systems and online services working with large databases use Altcraft Platform. You can read more about this in: «How Altcraft Platform Helped AlfaStrakhovanie Group Increase Repeat Online Purchases by 49%» and «How Otkritie Broker Automated Communication with Customers by Means of Altcraft Platform». Our built-in solution fully adapts to the tasks of companies, allowing them to manage all processes within the system.

Conclusion

Nowadays, companies are concerned about whether the information provided to them is securely stored. As we have already mentioned, cloud service providers are not able to properly protect customer private data. That's why you should consider all the pros and cons when choosing a solution. Check what country the provider is in, what laws they obey and how they operate.