Investing in cybersecurity is the future of customer loyalty. There was a time when a consumer would replace a mobile phone for another one, from a different brand, simply because the price was more advantageous. Soon, other criteria were added to the list of reasons for purchasing a product. Cyber security and privacy have become two of the most important.

A 2018 global survey showed that consumers would abandon companies, products or services for trust issues, such as cases of data breaches. Which means that data security is no longer just something routine in the product development phase, but also a crucial point of sales and customer retention. Also according to the study, if there was a data leak issue, 78% of consumers would not engage with a brand online, while 50% would not use a service or application.

Customers are becoming increasingly aware of their privacy.

The impact of this is felt in the market. The 2018 attack on Facebook, for example, in which hackers compromised the accounts of 50 million people, cost the company a 3% drop in share value that year.

This means that investment in cybersecurity is commensurate with an increase in customer base and loyalty.

But are companies paying attention to the future of customer loyalty?

After the pandemic, in which many companies were forced to migrate to digital, there has been a major movement towards the adoption of cyber security. But there is still a lack of information on how to design a mature protection strategy. Many companies invest less than the minimum necessary and, as a result, remain vulnerable.

To reduce cybercrime, invest in these 3 pillars

Human element - few realise that adequate training and awareness programmes are crucial. Any protection tool depends on safety culture to work.

Cloud - it is the first step to refining a cybersecurity operating system. When it comes to cloud, the opportunities for business benefits are very powerful, CMO agility, cost reduction, time to value and digital transformation to name but a few.

MDR - a solution for organisations that wanted to elevate cyber security to a strategic level and thus reduce the risk exposure window. It is a threat detection and response service, common in the SOC (Security Operations Center) model. But while a traditional SOC only generates alerts, MDR does threat search, which means a deeper search and risk analysis. This approach enables more comprehensive and tactical solutions.

Cyber security is not just a must-have investment, but a guarantee that the business will stay alive.

By Allan Costa