With data sharing between systems and third parties increasing and cybersecurity attacks growing more sophisticated, consumer concerns about data usage and compromise are rising, pushing digital trust to the forefront. Sixty-two percent of consumers say digital trust is an important factor when choosing to engage with a brand, according to the Accenture Life Trends 2025 report. But despite trust’s importance, in its 2024 State of Digital Trust report, the global association of IT professionals ISACA notes that barely half of all companies surveyed are confident in their digital trustworthiness.

Changing that dynamic should be a priority for the C-suite, says Daniel Kendzior, global Data and AI Security lead at Accenture. “Research indicates organizations that have high consumer trust deliver better financial results, which makes sense, because there’s more choice than ever in digital services,” he says. “Consumers have the ability to pick and choose who they want to engage with.”

Widening the circle of responsibility

Traditionally, technology-focused roles like the chief information security officer (CISO) or chief technology officer (CTO) have been responsible for digital security and privacy issues relevant to trust. But the impacts of digital trust are felt across the enterprise, and limiting responsibility for it can create blind spots and silos, says Noopur Davis, executive vice president, chief information security officer and product privacy officer at Comcast. “Forward-thinking enterprises are spreading ownership across the C-suite to include titles previously more peripheral to these processes. Every leadership role in the company has to support digital trust.”

One example is the chief marketing officer (CMO). Digital security and reliability have become core factors in a brand’s image and reputation, and the CMO is well-positioned to articulate customer expectations around data security and privacy. “The CMO understands what the customer values about the brand, what the customer identifies with and what’s most important to them,” says Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “Technology and security leaders today need to lean on their knowledge.”

Though cybersecurity and data privacy are critical factors, Davis says a laser-focus on the customer perspective can guide organization-wide commitments to digital trust and help convey the importance of those commitments in ways most relevant to them. “What do customers care about most when it comes to developing trust? The answer for every business is different. For us, service availability, reliability and quality are measures of trust,” she says. “For a bank, it might be the security of financial transactions; for a retailer, responsibly using data to tailoring a shopping experience.”

Greater synergy between consumer-facing, technological and financial remits inside the C-suite can help connect those dots. “The more organizations are pulling together to strengthen trust, the more they’re able to drive business value,” Kendzior says.

The building blocks of trust

Establishing digital trust starts with technology and extends into processes and people. Leaders, Davis says, should consider how trust is embedded into every aspect of an operation. She favors a “by-design” approach to security and data privacy. “It means that every line of code, every open-source system that is integrated, every website that’s created, every app that is built—everything goes through a series of steps to make sure trust is baked in along the way, rather than bolted on at the end,” she says.

Companies must also remember to audit the practices of any third-party services and applications to ensure they’re not unwittingly importing vulnerabilities. Rigorous testing—including threat modeling, penetration tests and architecture reviews—helps companies ensure the steps they’ve taken to enable trust will be effective, Davis adds.

For leaders to build holistic frameworks promoting trustworthy data practices, experts like Kendzior and Davis believe transparency is essential. Internally, that can mean consistent communication around governance and best practices. Externally, companies can’t hide the ball. Commitments around privacy and security, as well as how data might be shared, must be clearly articulated and upheld. “Customers want to know exactly what you’re doing with their data,” Davis says. “It should be easy for them to find answers to their questions.”

Robust cybersecurity is also fundamental to establishing and maintaining digital trust. Tools including AI-powered managed detection and response can automatically identify and respond to threats. By employing adaptive network security architectures and models like zero trust network access, organizations can protect sensitive systems and data. Davis believes these steps—from engaging leaders across the C-suite to “by-design” processes to cybersecurity and data protection—can create durable frameworks promoting digital trust.

Companies will know when they’re getting it right. “Trust is gained when digital solutions do what they’re expected to do, and companies are clear about what they’re doing with data,” Davis says. ”The ultimate measure is the voice of the customer.”

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Originally posted on The Wall Street Journal, https://partners.wsj.com/comcast-business/powering-perspectives/why-digital-trust-matters-more-than-ever/