Safeguarding customer data should be a priority for UK companies — because consumers here place great store on how businesses treat their information, according to research.
Out of eight European nations, UK nationals stand out as the most concerned their data is kept safe.
Eighty-one per cent of Britons polled by Unisys said an organisation's ability to keep their data safe is a key trust-building attribute. This compares to 42 percent of French respondents, 40 percent of Belgians and 35 percent of German consumers.
The UK also leads the way in believing inadequate data privacy protection leads to an erosion of customer trust. Seventy-six percent of Brits feel this is the case, followed by 62 percent of consumers in Spain and 58 percent in France.
Britons are also the most concerned that the IT services they use are reliable, the research claims. Seventy-five percent of UK consumers said dependable IT is important in building their trust, compared to 67 percent of people in Holland, 36 percent in France and a mere 28 percent in Spain.
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The research also reveals the majority of Europeans believe it is acceptable for trusted organisations — such as banks and government agencies — to use biometrics in order to verify a person's identity. Eighty-nine percent of Belgians trust biometrics to be used in this way, followed by 82 percent of Britons and 65 percent of Spaniards.
The research was conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Unisys and polled 3,669 adult-aged consumers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
