EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Regardless of what your company sells, whether software or a physical product, at the end of the day, your company is competing for customer trust within your industry.

When it comes to B2B customers, businesses now expect that security is baked into any given contract, rather than a topic to be lightly mentioned just prior to signing. On the consumer side, a PwC survey indicates that 85% of regular consumers will not give their business to companies that they do not trust.

Yet, despite the steps that organizations take to build client relationships, it often seems that there are an infinite number of ways to breach clients’ trust.

Develop your customer trust playbook.

Pitching your enterprise as trustworthy is a multi-pronged endeavor. Not only should the CIO and CISO focus on this, PR and marketing teams should also be brought into the conversation.

An agile, adept PR team can go a long way in restoring consumer trust. As one PR expert advises, “the worst mistake to make is to refer to a breach as a breach, rather than an incident, as this immediately makes it a notifiable event to the regulatory authorities.” The language used around a breach is best left to those who understand how to shape a brand’s image.

Similarly, a marketing team can also work to develop language and create a favorable campaign after a breach.

With these two additional teams on board, even if a cyber incident does occur, the incident may not have the sweeping repercussions that it would otherwise.

New generations of cyber security products are also instrumental in heightening consumer trust. Consider either adding to your current collection of tools, or purchasing a new suite of security software altogether. This will make you, and your customers feel better about your cyber security posture.

Once trust is lost, it’s an uphill battle to regain. For an in-depth discussion of customer trust, visit The Harvard Business Review.