How Can Your Company Benefit from Consent Management Software?
Jun 22, 2022
When people use the internet, they are sharing data. In many cases, this data is personal, especially when they make online purchases, sign up on a website, handle some bills and banking, etc. This data is collected and processed by the sites they are using, which is where consent comes into the picture.
Consent management is a buzzword these days. Just a decade ago, how companies used customers’ data wasn’t highly regulated. Nowadays, businesses are expected - and obligated - to inform and request consent from customers whose data they want to collect and use.
To give customers more control over their data and their online footprint, countries around the globe are amending their old privacy laws and demanding that companies are more transparent and careful.
Nowadays, if you want a successful online business, you need to give customers the opportunity to use and update their preferences whenever they want.
While trying to comply with all regulations and make sure that no user’s rights are hurt is challenging, there’s one thing that makes it all simpler - quality consent management software. In this article, you’ll learn why it is important to get consent and how you can benefit from investing in a good software for this purpose.
What is consent management?
Consent management means that you are informing users how your company collects and uses their data. It also means that you are giving them the option to refuse the use of their information, whether it is by offering them to opt-in or opt-out of your data collection process.
Awareness concerning data privacy has increased significantly in the last few years and has resulted in tons of new privacy regulations. To accommodate the awareness and comply with these regulations, you need to incorporate a great deal of transparency into how you collect and use consumer data. That’s what content management is all about - gaining the consent of users to use and gather their data.
Learn more about consent management in Osano’s guide
One of the biggest reasons why you should be using the consent management framework is to ensure compliance with data privacy laws. This refers not only to the regulations in the country where your business operates but also to the regulations of other countries where your users reside.
If you aren’t familiar with how this works, you should read Osano’s guide to consent management. In this guide, you will learn about different regulations and laws and how they affect your company depending on where your customers are located.
And, of course, Osano is also a trending consent management platform that will enable you to gather consent with minimal effort and reduce mistakes.
What is consent management software?
Consent management platforms or CMPs are software solutions that automate the consent collection process. In other words, these tools will inform your users that you plan to or are collecting and using their data. The CMP will also give the users the option to opt in or opt out of having their data used and collected, which complies with different data privacy laws across the world.
If you don’t use consent management software, you will find it very time-consuming to ask every user for consent, store and manage their data, and most importantly, keep track of the frequently-changing regulations around the globe.
A good CMP will manage the entire lifecycle of your users’ personal data and ensure that you stay compliant. Considering how much time and effort you need to put into compliance, and how costly potential mistakes can be, it’s definitely one of the smarter investments to make.
Benefits of using quality consent management software
You can reap many benefits by investing in a quality platform like Osano. Let’s take a look at the biggest of them:
Compliance with privacy laws
Even if your business operates in a state covered by, let’s say, the GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation), this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should keep track of their privacy laws only.
If you have customers from California, for example, you need to be compliant with the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) regulations. If you have a single customer in Brazil, you need to comply with the LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), too.
Depending on how big your company is, this list gets bigger and bigger.
This is the most important reason why you should invest in consent management software. Every day, privacy laws are going into effect or being amended. Organizations around the world are scrambling to remain compliant with all these regulations and changes.
Right now, over 100 countries worldwide have compliance regulations. If you break them, you can be fined thousands, if not millions of dollars. A single mistake or a mishap on your behalf can cost you a lot.
Smart consent management software will ensure that you are compliant with these regulations at all times.
Efficient data storing and management
Businesses need customer data for a number of reasons. They need it to process orders and transactions and create customer accounts. They also need it for marketing. Almost every business today collects customer data to form smarter business and marketing plans and reach their target audience.
When you are collecting such large amounts of data, it can become very complicated to record it, store it, and manage it. A CMP can do this for you, too, even if your target audience is spread all across the globe.
Proof that you obtained users’ consent
When regulatory audits take place, it is your task to prove that you are obtaining the consent of users. A good CMP will collect and organize this data for you, and provide it to you when you most need it. You’ll be able to prove that you have the necessary consent for the collection and use of customer data.
Consent collection made simple and time-efficient
How do you gain consent from customers? Do you have an automated process in place that asks them for consent as soon as they use your mobile app or website? Is this made available to them as per the regulations at the moment?
By using a quality CMP, you can get the consent forms to your users in real-time, and view information on their privacy preferences at any time.
Building trust
When your audience knows that you respect their privacy and are trying to be as transparent as possible, this will help you build trust. If you do proper consent management, you’ll show customers that you respect their right to choose how their information will be used.
Wunderman’s study shows that it is important to show your customer that you care about them. It will give you a competitive edge and better word-of-mouth.
Tailored to your company’s needs
Consent management software is simple to use and can be customized based on your company’s needs. It will see what regulations you need to comply with, gather and use your target audience data, and provide you with the information you need - when you need it.
Quality platforms allow you to customize compliance procedures based on your website’s needs. For example, you can use different types of consent collection methods, such as opt-ins and opt-outs, or a hybrid method that combines the two.
You can send out customized messages, create different consent categories, and deliver them to site visitors without damaging the customer experience on your site or your app.
When should you use consent management software?
If your company’s website or app does any of the following, you definitely need to use consent management software:
Collection and use of personal data from visitors (If you collect and use such data to personalize your marketing strategies or content).
Transfer of data (if you are collecting data from users that reside or are based in different countries and transferring it overseas).
Running the data through an algorithm (if you use software and algorithms to make more personalized strategies for individual users).
Using special data categories (if you are collecting and/or using demographic and personal information for any other purpose).
To put this simply, you need a good CMP if you're collecting any type of personal data, even if you aren’t using it for any purpose right now.
Wrapping up
Customers and website users today are a vital part of the decision-making process when it comes to data usage. As a company, you are legally obliged, as well as expected by your customers, to obtain consent to collect any type of personal data for any particular purpose.
Collecting consent should not be challenging or complex. Since there’s no room for error due to the high penalties and risk of losing your reputation, you should opt for a consent management solution that will automate the entire process for you. Lastly, in order to drive this process and deliver high-quality software faster than ever, you need a great Value Stream Management platform like Plutora. Value Stream Management provides an end-to-end software delivery solution that breaks down operational silos by connecting multiple processes, teams, and tools, leveraging real-time metrics to ensure that governance is embedded into your organization’s workflows. In order to adapt governance to your team and ensure that you are always compliant, automate and keep track of the entire process with Plutora.
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