Customers value a company’s trustworthiness. The brands that people follow and continually patronize are those offered by companies that put an optimum on high quality value delivery. So much so that whatever products or services carry brand names that align with their consumer goals as worthy of their continued patronage would always depend much on how companies maintain brand dynamics.
A high degree of brand value stems from a company’s competent management of all the information and data at its disposal. A company’s trade secrets, often the main bone of contention as to why it remains competitive against business rivals, also make up a large part of the sensitive info that it owns. That’s why when company IT infrastructures fail to protect proprietary information, sensitive data, trade secrets and customer information, it is the same company that is sure to incur financial losses.
The loss of trust
IT infra security breach is the single most destructive cause of data loss. This could occur in company IT systems via human error (accidental access), malicious online action (hacking attacks), and system failure. Once any of these three occur, data loss could lead to the company losing its competitive edge as trade secrets become open knowledge; customer mistrust owing to their personal information provided in full confidence being exposed; and the business’ integrity being held in question regarding its negligence with info.
At the surface, companies could quickly take steps to hem in whatever impact these occurrences could deal their operations. Contingency measures could, after all, be made at the ready prior to such unfortunate events. What follows however, in the wake of a cyber security breach proves to be the costlier ones to tackle.
What you really lose
Proprietary information such as work processes, retail method mechanics, inventory control systems and the like that have been developed through years of profitable operations once illegally or accidentally turned over to the wrong hands online or offline impact companies via their operational technology value.
If you would calculate the number of experiential years and all the painstaking mindwork that have come into the acquisition of such knowledge to run any particular business, that would naturally be translatable to immeasurable economic value. Trade secrets, stumbled upon, developed, tested, and perfected by companies to profitable gain however, could be quantified financially via the resultant assets and physical infra that the company has like employees, establishments, stores, equipment and business phone systems. This could be calculable in terms of company net worth and brand equity. Whatever those values are, these are what companies stand to lose owing to data loss.
The most immediate cost that companies have to face up to once they fail to adequately protect their IT infra to prevent serious data loss are those that deal with repairing the lost trust and compromised integrity of the company. Regaining the trust of customers would naturally involve aggressive marketing efforts and a more serious customer relations management premised on that itself — making amends for negligence with info given in full confidence.
Reclaiming market ground lost to competitors who have finally gotten hold of your trade secrets would definitely put the pressure on your product/service concept development programs to speed up innovation to offset tech that has been lost to negligent IT management. This could be even more expensive but necessary to do since design thinkers and developers in your company would be hard pressed to come up with something new and just as brilliant but not with the same amount of time that the creating of the original innovation had.
Prevention would always be better than any cure. With IT systems, the adage applies just as seriously.
