Indian customers against use of technology to track buying patterns: Verint survey

As many as 77 per cent of Indian consumers in a recent survey believe that organisations collect too much data about them and 74 per cent were against the use of technology tools to assess their buying patterns.

A survey conducted by Verint Systems across 18 countries and 34,000 consumers highlighted how an 'always on' era has led to explosion of unstructured data from digital channels of customer engagement.

In India, more than 2000 consumers who have access to a digital platform took part in the research to reveal their assessment on issues like how customers perceive data privacy, their readiness to accept data breach, and use of technology to analyse customers' buying patterns, a Verint statement said.

As per the findings, nearly 77 per cent of the Indian respondents agreed that organisations collect too much data about them and 74 per cent of the Indian respondents said it is "creepy" to use technology to analyse their buying patterns and preferences, the statement noted.

"Out of the 18 surveyed countries, Indian customers take lead as 73 per cent of the respondents voted in favour of actively avoiding brands that use technology to analyse and track their buying/engagement patterns," it added.

About 75 per cent of the Indian customers who were surveyed agreed that service providers cannot do much to prevent data breach, but majority did not wish to engage with a brand that has experienced a data hack.

The survey however noted that Indian customers are willing to share their personal information to receive personalised services and in exchange of discounts.

Commenting on findings, Anil Chawla, managing director - Customer Engagement Solutions, Verint said "with democratisation of data, it is important for organisations to sync up their teams, processes and technology to fulfil several data privacy norms. Organisations must encourage a culture of compliance by maintaining data security, being transparent about their data collection and data management processes".