Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Data breaches haven't slowed shoppers down

The '2014 IT Risk/Reward Barometer' showed that the majority of US consumers (94%) have heard about major retailer data breaches in the past year, and three-quarters say retailer data breaches have increased concerns about their personal data privacy during the same period.

The majority (61%) characterise the way they manage data privacy on connected devices they own as "Take-Charge" rather than "Reactive" (26%) or "Passive" (11%). Yet, despite knowing about retailer data breaches, fewer than half have changed an online password or PIN (45%), made fewer online purchases using mobile devices (15%), or shopped less frequently at one or more of the retailers that experienced a data breach (28%).

"An interesting conclusion from this study is the gap between people's concerns about protecting their data privacy and security versus the actions they take," said Robert Stroud, international president for ISACA. "Businesses need to address this gap by aggressively educating customers and employees about how they can help reduce the risk or minimize the impact of data breaches or hacks."

The risk caused by the obvious gap between knowledge and action has been amplified by the rapid spread of wearable technology and other connected devices in consumers' everyday life. About one quarter of consumers now own or regularly use smart TVs (32%) or connected cars (27%) and more than half of people's wish lists for the coming year include connected devices (58%).

Among top consumer concerns about the 'Internet of Things' (devices that connect with each other or to the Internet) are someone hacking into the device and doing something malicious (38%), not knowing how the information collected by the devices will be used (22%), and companies or organisations being able to track an individual's actions or whereabouts (12%).

But despite these privacy and security concerns, 'wearables' are entering the workplace. For example, 68% of employed Americans would consider using one or more connected wearable devices in their current workplace, according to the survey. And some 1 in 10 employed Americans would consider wearing smart glasses, such as Google Glass, in their current workplace. Despite this, nearly half of ISACA members in the US (45%) believe the risk of the Internet of Things outweighs the benefit for enterprise.

ISACA members in the US were evenly divided on whether the benefit of the Internet of Things outweighs the risk for individuals (38%) or the risk outweighs the benefit (37%), but 71% describe themselves as very concerned about the decreasing level of personal privacy.

"The Internet of Things is here, and following the holiday gift giving season, we are likely to see a surge in wearable technology devices in the workplace," concluded Clyde. "These devices can deliver great value but they can also bring great risk. Companies should take an 'embrace and educate' approach."

Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Learn the insider's tricks and techniques to turn every customers into a 'super spreader' for your brand. It's better than free advertising. Once you start this ball rolling, your brand can grow rapidly through word-of-mouth, advocacy, influencers, and customer loyalty. Super-charge your company's marketing strategy, build up your market share, and make more sales through repeat business and customer loyalty.

Find out what works - and what doesn't - and who's succeeded, and how they did it. See how the world's top brands keep their competitive edge against all odds.

The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook walks you step-by-step through the techniques, metrics, reporting, analysis, marketing models, technologies, tools and innovations for successful marketing strategies - both traditional and emerging - with expert guidance from thought leaders in every major market. Find out the best ways to gather, analyse, and act on customer data to increase profitability, build your brand, empower your customers, beat the competition, reduce churn, and increase customer profitability. This is a marketing book you simply can't afford to be without.

This book aims to hand you all the facts, figures and research data you need for the best decisions for a more profitable, more engaging marketing strategy. It also highlights all the facts, forecasts and trends identified by our experts from the global Marketing Factbook's vast database of market data, news, studies, research and articles, and presents you with an invaluable library of ideas and practical support you can call upon at will.

With The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook at your side, you'll have instant access to a true goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, research and market data, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid, profitable marketing strategy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)