News UK Business Intelligence Director, Andy Day, explains that as the custodians of customers’ ‘data DNA’ businesses bear a great responsibility.

Everything we do, every second of every day, leaves a trail of data - our own data fingerprint or ‘data DNA’.  These data contain intimate profiles of our lives and of where and how we lead them – and the data is being collected and stored on an exponential scale. Data is now being used by many companies to give their customers more of what they want and as a way to attract new audiences. These companies have a collective responsibility to ensure that their customer data is used in the right way.

In our day-to-day lives, the types of data collected can include our travel movements, mobile phone usage, Google search histories and what we're sharing on Facebook and Twitter. With wearable tech – already one of this year’s hottest trends, albeit currently under review - we can only expect the categories of such data to grow.

Responsible companies and organisations will, of course, only use such information to serve their customers and stakeholders better; to make their lives easier and more productive. Data analysis can help businesses improve products and services, make them more relevant, personal and even more compelling.

As reported recently in the media, music-streaming service Spotify takes what it knows about its customers and uses it to suggest to them more sounds they might like. Their listening habits can help each of them build up an individual "taste profile”, and quickly find out what new music might fit into it.

On the other hand, insensitive or too-intrusive use of data can quickly and significantly damage a company’s reputation. It will be interesting to see what customers will make of Photobox after recent revelations that a security flaw in its Moonpig app may have exposed some of them to data cyber-attack.

The key issue here is what we mean by “responsible". In the eyes of the law, a company that collects data is its legal owner – so what they do with it must be within the bounds of the law.  But the very laws that serve to protect consumers are woolly at best leaving companies with a weaker moral compass and the opportunity to really exploit these data and therefore customers.

There seems little doubt that, to assure our customers, we will have to revisit some of our previously held assumptions.  Customer data is gold dust and must be carefully handled. It is not only a fingerprint of their lives, but also the blueprint of our relationship with them.

In the digital age, readers and users of products like ours are becoming more and more accustomed to voting with their feet. So maybe we need to start thinking of ourselves not so much as the owners of customer data, but as part-time guardians of our customers’ prized asset – their Data DNA.