Digital Trust

Digital trust is the confidence users have in the ability of people, technology and processes to create a secure digital world. Digital trust is given to companies who have shown their users they can provide safety, privacy, security, reliability, and data ethics with their online programs or devices. When a person decides to use a company's product, they are confirming their digital trust in the business.

Digital trust divides dependable services from corrupt ones, helping the user decide on a secure company rather than an unreliable one. It creates a bond between a user and a company that assures the user they will be receiving what they are asking for in a safe, secure and reliable manner. The more digital trust a company receives, the more likely it will be to gain more users.

Digital trust is used by both digital service companies and their consumers. Users apply digital trust to the search process for a service or device. Consumers are more likely to use a company that is trustworthy than one that is unreliable. Companies aim to gain digital trust from consumers and use this goal to digitally transform themselves and create greater confidence in security, safety, privacy and reliability among consumers.

Benefits of digital trust

The increased connection between businesses, government, industrial equipment and personal devices is generating increased cyber and privacy risks. Since most businesses are now working digitally in some way, their success is impacted by trust as much as it is by designing new products. As consumers share more and more personal information online with different businesses, they put more at risk and the importance of their confidence in the company increases.

Consumers are now placing more significance on the trust they have in a service and are looking for ways to ensure they are using the most reliable sources. This is forcing business leaders to reevaluate and transform the ways in which they are running their company and the processes involved in creating services or devices with greater security and reliability; the need for trust is creating a digital transformation (DX). Companies are beginning to focus on managing privacy and cyber risks and including privacy and security personnel in project plans and budgets.

Digital trust will allow customers to find and choose the dependable digital services faster, better and with less unreliable choices to distract them. Eventually, machines will automate the decision process by calculating the level of confidence in a program.  This will require more information to be provided about a company's service or product, creating increased transparency that will also build digital trust.

The delivery of digital trust in our connected world hinges on four key elements:

• Industry and technology standards that define what constitutes trust
• Compliance and operations that govern delivery of trust
• Software that provides management of public/and or private trust within an organization, with centralized visibility and control over digital certificate lifecycles
• Extension of trust through ecosystems, such as across device lifecycles, software supply chains, consortiums, and more.

The Four Paragons of Digital Trust

• Security: Security is a fundamental component of digital trust. Customers need to know that their personal information is safe and secure when they interact with a business online. This means implementing strong security measures to protect against cyber threats, using encryption to safeguard sensitive data, and ensuring that all data is stored securely.
• Transparency: Transparency is also essential to digital trust. Customers want to know how their personal data is being collected, stored, and used. Businesses must be transparent about their data collection practices and provide clear and concise privacy policies that outline how customer data will be used.
• Reliability: Reliability is another key component of digital trust. Customers want to know that they can rely on a business to deliver on its promises. This means providing accurate product information, delivering products and services on time, and providing excellent customer service.
• User Experience: Customers expect a seamless and frictionless experience when they interact with a business online. This means providing a user-friendly website or mobile app, ensuring that pages load quickly, and making it easy for customers to complete transactions.