Assets to Outcomes: Transforming Security into Digital Trust

Trust is the cornerstone of any economy. Nowhere is its value more clear than in the present global economic shift from a legacy “analog” business models to increasingly online “digital first” models. This shift is fundamentally altering how buyers and sellers interact, how bonds of trust are built, and how customer experiences are formed. Even when a consumer touch-point is analog, how it is measured, supported, and shared by the consumer is overwhelmingly digital, and inherently at risk, as online systems are vulnerable to outage, data breach and cyber-threats that didn’t exist on the same scale in the legacy analog (brick-and-mortar) market. 

To survive, brands must (re)build, digitally, the “trust” that existed in the analog.

In the BPO & IT Services sector, this shift means service providers must rethink how they provide security and enable digital trust for their clients (and their consumers). Security must be more than a means to safeguard assets – it must enable outcomes of digital trust and consumer experience that support and strengthen the brand of their enterprise clients.

This concept was reinforced during our recent HfS Working Summit in Dallas. As we discussed the emergence of the As-a-Service Economy, service providers suggested they viewed their role in the As-a-Service Economy as helping enterprise buyers transform their technology and processes to better connect with their consumers, shifting from a “cost savings” model to an “outcome driven” model.

This focus on consumer-oriented outcomes is consistent with what we hear from enterprise buyers: the increasingly customer-centric nature of business is resulting in both brands and service providers being measured against the experiences of the end consumer. Service providers, including platform and technology vendors, can no longer afford to exist as discrete elements within an organization, they’re now required to be part of a partnership “ecosystem” that blends internal, shared, and outsourced resources.

How consumers measure and validate an enterprise brand is increasingly influenced by their digital interactions and how much they “trust” a brand. Digital trust, as an outcome, is the result of a number of discrete elements, including traditional cyber, device and application security, network and device performance, data integrity and reliability, and, increasingly, privacy and end-consumer perceptions. Unfortunately, these elements are often silo’d apart, diminishing their collective value in the legacy enterprise.

For both enterprise brands and service providers alike, the ability to survive, let alone thrive, in the coming As-a-Service Economy requires a increasing level of security baked into every aspect of their business model, designed to enable a high level of enterprise and consumer-driven trust.

As we move into the As-a-Service Economy, some of the questions service providers must rapidly address include:

• How can a seamless security framework, and digital experience, incorporate both internal, provider-owned, and consumer resources?
• How do we maintain the ability to be innovative and agile as new technologies disrupt the experience, and governance, of products and services in an increasingly mobile-first and subscription-oriented market?
• What partnerships and ecosystems are necessary to deliver, and continually reinforce, a trusted experience to the end consumer across multiple service providers, technologies and onmi-channel touch-points?
• Are we capable of accurately measuring the value of digital trust and security throughout an enterprise organization and their customer base?

The reality today is B2B and B2C touch-points are now overwhelming taking place in the digital realm. Unfortunately, digital experiences can make brands and businesses appear less tangible and less secure, and buyer/seller relationships seem more virtual and less personal. How well service providers address this issue will directly impact their ability to survive, and thrive, in the As-a-Service Economy.