What should you do if you lose customer data?

In recent years we have all talked a lot about data governance and data security. We have shared our views on the vulnerability of personal information after a series of high profile data breaches and debated what companies need to do to ensure that they have effective data governance strategy and practices in place. What we have been less eager to talk about is what would happen if you or your agency lost your data.

 

I can feel you squirming in your seat already. It’s human nature to avoid talking about difficult things. We actively avoid talking about death, redundancy, illness or anything remotely uncomfortable. Yet I feel this is a conversation we need to have, because as a business the consequences of not keeping client/ customer data safe and secure and ultimately of losing it are serious, with the potential to damage a company or brand irreparably.  

 

People are the key to delivering successful data governance within a company, be it agency or client side. Yet people can also be the biggest factor in any data loss. Human error will happen whether we like it or not and however we control against it. The consequences and longer term ramifications of a data loss are all to a large degree within your control and will be determined by the way in which you handle the situation. Fundamentally a data loss does NOT have to mean game over.