The speed of technological evolution has led to some sensitive ethical quandaries related to privacy in recent years. Governments are only now beginning to address the gray areas created by digital data collection and handling through new laws such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). While some governments may be slow to act, savvy businesses are responding to these issues in real time.
Today, most consumers understand that their personal information has a dollar value. They’ve grown wary about giving that information away to careless companies that don’t protect their data. After all, when a business’ data banks are breached, it’s often the consumer’s bank account that’s compromised. It’s the consumer’s privacy that is threatened. It’s the consumer’s trust that is eroded.
Securing your business against breaches protects your customers from harm. While sloppy security practices undermine consumer trust, ethical security practices bolster trust and drive business. Developing processes and systems that protect consumer data ultimately improves profit-making potential.
Off-the-shelf software is accessible to anyone, making it more vulnerable to the strategies of cyber criminals. Hackers have the opportunity to get to know the software intimately, uncovering its weak spots and making practice runs at its defenses. Custom software, on the other hand, is tailored specifically to your business requirements. It remains proprietary, which keeps your processes private. With no easy-to-access blueprint for attacking your technology, criminals will go look for an easier target than your custom software solution.
Custom software can be designed as a virtually airtight channel for data sharing and communications within your organization. User permissions and access to different layers of data architecture can be specified at a granular layer, safeguarding data and mitigating the potential for accidental information leaks.
When you rely on off-the-shelf software, you put yourself at the mercy of a vendor who may or may not share your commitment to security. In some cases, commercial vendors neglect to make important updates, rendering software vulnerable to external attacks. Custom software is built with your future in mind. It can be scaled, modified, and maintained at your convenience. This mitigates the risk of security breaches and ensures your software and your business are always operating at peak potential, which is exactly how you gain and maintain customer trust.
At Antares, we develop custom software that meets your business needs and your customers’ expectation of privacy. We work with you to ensure a robust, seamless product that optimizes your processes, streamlines your communications, and protects your data. Contact our experts today to learn more about our how our custom solutions can help protect you.