Business Intelligence widely supported by consumers   

But expect privacy concerns to remain high: Ipsos

By Steve Mossop

Business Intelligence has become an industry buzzword in the past two or three years and activities such as data mining, marketing research, environmental scanning and competitive intelligence have become commonplace. But how are consumers reacting to companies that employ these processes and how do they feel about the activities, particularly when they are asked to participate?

According to a recent province-wide online study of nearly 600 adults BC and Alberta residents conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of the Marketing research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), consumes are very knowledgeable and supportive of companies that conduct Business Intelligence (BI) activities, and personally participate in a wide number of these activities. However consumers are skeptical and suspicious about data mining and concerned about invasion of personal privacy and the potential misuse of information.

A surprisingly high proportion of consumers indicate they are either "very" or "somewhat" knowledgeable about Business Intelligence/knowledge management (44 per cent), environmental scanning/secondary research (40 per cent), or competitive intelligence (44 per cent). the vast majority is knowledgeable about market research activities (84 per cent); a small majority is knowledgeable of corporate data mining activities (52 per cent). Comparisons to a simliar survey Ipsos Reid did last year show consumers are almost as knowledgeable about this area as are BI leaders at organizations who conduct these activities.

For the most part, consumers are also very supportive of businesses that conduct these types of activiteis, especially marketing research, which receives the strongest support (84 per cent strongly or somewhat support organizations that do this), followed by support for environmental scanning (69 per cent) and business intelligence overall (63 per cent). A smaller group is supportive of competive intelligence activities (45 per cent), but the most skepticism is reserved for data mining activities, as nearly half are either "somewhat" (27 per cent) or "strongly" (21 per cent) opposed to this. Only 32 per cent support companies that conduct this type of activity.  

Consumers strongly believe they will only give out information to companies they trust (88 per cent) and admit they are very concerned about identity theft (72 per cent). They also believe companies are asking for too much personal information (63 per cent) and unnecessary information (64 per cent). A slight majority believes companies misuse the information they collect (55 per cent), and many believe companies don't make good use of collected information (45 per cent).

Privacy Concerns

Those who are reluctant participants cite conerns about getting more junk mail and spam, the invasion of their personal privacy, the selling of personal information, identity theft and uncertainty over how companies use information. In fact, security and privacy concerns have remained high since we began tracking opinions in this area 10 years ago.

the vast majority of consumers have at some time participated in a wide range of BI activities, such as market research (98 per cent), divulging credit card numbers online (87 per cent), giving out personal information for warranties (85 per cent) and willingly providing e-mail addresses to companies (80 per cent).

Today's consumer understands the need for businesses to collect informationh and to conduct business intelligence activities. However, businesses, must do a better job protecting consumer privacy and utilizing the information collected so they don't damage consumer trust. If companies are secretive or don't make good use of the information- or worse, sell it to a third party- consumers will shut the door on future opportunities and potentially paint all companies with the same brush.