Mark Little, Principal Analyst, Consumer

In the rush to monetize customer data, companies risk diminishing the trust people have in services and brands. Sustaining and growing people’s trust in services is not just about “doing the right thing,” but also makes commercial sense. Telcos and OTT players have worked to establish a satisfactory level of trust with their customers, but as Big Data creates new opportunities for monetizing customer data, even a little more aggression in its exploitation risks driving mistrust among users.

Customers who are aware of this exploitation will become more concerned with their privacy, and with the transparency and control of their data. To exploit customer data more comprehensively, businesses must develop a much greater level of trust with their customers. Ovum calls this approach “Big Trust,” and outlines it in detail in the report Personal Data and the Big Trust Opportunity. Big Trust creates new …