ISACA‘s study shows that of the 8,100 respondents, 94% believe that digital trust is relevant to their organisation, with a further 83% of businesses thinking it will be more important over the next five years. 

In contrast to this, only 44% believe there is currently sufficient collaboration in their organisation to improve digital trust. The research finds that a mere 7% of respondents are completely confident with their companies digital trustworthiness, while one in three do not measure it at all. 

“Cyberattacks are on the rise and customers increasingly recognise their sophisticated nature. They’ll therefore expect businesses to take the necessary steps to protect and secure their personal data,” said Rolf von Roessing, ISACA Evangelist. “Those who adopt a company-wide strategy to build digital trust will establish themselves as a credible authority among customer bases and sustainably reap the long-term rewards.” 

Despite the low numbers of commitment to digital trust, organisations still recognise its importance. With 79% saying demonstrating digital trust would make them more successful. Believing it will also give them a more positive reputation (70%), experience fewer privacy breaches (57%), fewer cyber security incidents (55%), and have more reliable data to make decisions (51%).

Digital trust is defined in this survey as “the integrity of the relationship, interactions and transactions among providers and consumers within an associated digital ecosystem.” Key components of digital trust are security, data integrity, privacy, governance, and assurance. 

ISACA recommends businesses prioritise investment in digital trust training and skills development “from the C-suite right down to entry level employees.”

“Businesses recognise the importance of digital trust, but most are struggling to achieve it. Employees aren’t getting the right training to build their skills in this area,” said Chris Dimitriadis, Chief Global Strategy Officer at ISACA. 

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According to Dimitriadis, the way to address the skills gap is through a combined training and credentialing approach that intersects with the various domains of digital trust. 

As of now, the largest barriers to this are a lack of leadership buy-in on improving digital trust (41%), as well as a lack of budget to allow employees to be trained in this domain (38%).

“To truly achieve digital trust, high levels of collaboration and a holistic approach are essential. From IT and engineering to HR and sales, all departments must now align,” said Dimitriadis.

“The organisations that do keep digital trust front of mind will not only protect themselves against cyberattacks, but also protect their businesses’ bottom line by building long term customer loyalty – in turn increasing customer retention. Those that do not will see these things negatively impacted and their business success undermined.”