TECH TRENDS
Keeping compliant as Australia ’ s workforce defaults to digital
Jeremy Paton , Team Engagement Solutions Lead , APAC , Avaya , examines how evolving consumer habits and expectations can affect the cybersecurity of businesses while staying compliant .
Jeremy Paton , Team Engagement Solutions Lead , APAC , Avaya
Australia ’ s appetite for digital services is rampant . While there ’ s still a time and place for doing things in person , the pandemic catapulted Aussies ’ expectation for the convenience of accessing goods and services online to new heights .
Whether it ’ s to buy groceries and clothes , speak to GPs and psychologists , pay bills , find a home , or engage with companies and government agencies , the promise of instant gratification through digital interactions is the status quo for most demographics .
But it ’ s not just a matter of ease . It ’ s also about the ability for services to be personalised based on data from previous interactions . As consumers , we are all a bit fickle and expect to have it our way .
Whether for business or pleasure , we have limited patience to wait in queues and demand to get our hands on purchases right away .
We expect issues to be resolved in real-time , the first time and loathe repeating ourselves – we want the companies we contact to know about our desires and issues and handle them proactively .
Australian companies have invested millions to accommodate this evolving consumer behaviour . Supermarkets supercharged their apps , venues adopted check-in systems and governments added feature after feature to their online offerings .
As businesses fund efforts to get to know their customers better , the increase in digitalisation has increased risks . This risk isn ’ t just in the form of potential cyberthreats which are now well understood and heavily publicised – it ’ s also in the shape of inadvertent privacy and compliance lapses .
Having recently fired a trader as part of a compliance sweep , HSBC reportedly reminded staff that apps like WhatsApp shouldn ’ t be used to engage clients , as unauthorised channels like these fell outside regulatory obligations . Whether any data is compromised is a moot point .
Consumer-grade smartphone applications are extremely common in professional contexts and personally identifiable information ( PII ) and other sensitive data are regularly shared through these platforms .
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