New tool gives businesses greater control and visibility of customer data

Consumers are becoming more aware of how valuable their personal data is to businesses, in return for this information they expect customized, relevant online experiences.

From the business side this means ensuring that data is held in line with the law, internal policies and customer preferences. Data infrastructure company Segment is launching a new tool to help businesses with this privacy management.

Segment Privacy Portal creates a real-time data inventory that automatically detects customer data and allows companies to classify it in line with their relevant internal policies. All first-party customer data flows through Segment's Customer Data Infrastructure (CDI), this gives businesses the visibility and controls they need to control how data is collected, managed and used within the organization.

The Privacy Portal saves businesses the time needed to manually create a data inventory by providing a real-time overview of what customer data is being gathered, where, and how it is being used and stored. It also automatically detects personally identifiable information and allows businesses to set restrictions on how it is being used and shared.

They can also set rules governing the data points they want to automatically restrict, or prevent from being collected in the first place. Whenever a restricted data point is detected, the Privacy Portal immediately alerts the business and blocks it from passing through.

"The privacy-personalization paradox is a false dichotomy," says Segment's CEO and co-founder, Peter Reinhardt. "Privacy is not a zero-sum game, traded off against growth or the quality of the customer experiences. With the Privacy Portal, companies have the tools they need to respect privacy and mitigate risk, without sacrificing the customer-first experiences that continue to drive their business forward."

You can find out more on the Segment site.

Image credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock