Privacy’s impact grows, but more remains to be done

Nearly all organizations today recognize the importance of privacy to their business. In a recent study, 94% of organizations said customers wouldn’t buy from them if their data was not properly protected and 95% said privacy has become a business imperative. Additionally, 98% said they report privacy metrics to their boards of directors and 95% said all employees must know how to protect privacy. Despite this progress, more remains to be done, especially when it comes to building and maintaining trust. For example, 92% said, when it comes to using artificial intelligence, their organization needs to do more to reassure customers their data is only used for legitimate purposes.

These are some of the findings shared in the Cisco 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study released Jan. 24, which draws on more than 3100 anonymous responses from security and privacy professionals in 26 geographies.

Privacy investment and legislation

Even in a difficult economic environment, the average privacy spend in 2022 was $2.7 million, up 125% from three years ago. Estimated benefits from privacy rose to $3.4 million, with significant gains across all organization sizes. The average organization saw benefits of 1.8 times spending and 36% of organizations saw returns at least twice their investment.

Privacy legislation continues to be well received around the world, as 79% of organizations said privacy laws have positive impacts and only 6% indicated the laws have negative impacts.