Whether you’re a consumer who’s being asked to grant permission to provide your data to a company verifying your employment history, or a business looking to streamline this process, you may be wondering what consumer-permissioned data is. Read on to learn more.
A World of Un-Secure User Data
In today’s hyperconnected world, the actions we take on websites and in apps – what we search for and when, what we buy and when we buy it – follow us online everywhere we go. Advertisers use cookies to track visitors from one site to another, offering targeted ads and monetizing the results. Users have little control over and no ownership of what is shared and with whom. It’s a one-way street. If you’re wary when a lender or potential employer requests your permission online to gather your personal financial data to complete an application for credit or a background check for a new opportunity, you’re not alone. In fact, according to a recent survey, 75% of people distrust the way their data is shared.
So What Is Consumer-Permissioned Data?
But unlike your online shopping experience, consumer-permissioned data puts you in control and keeps your data safe and private, allowing you to share it with only the intended party. How does it work? In some applications of CPD, you supply the employer or lender “keys” to existing data that is securely stored in one or more online databases. Using these keys, the business or its third-party vendor then matches you to your data. Going one step further, a CPD platform like MeasureOne bypasses these keys altogether. Instead, you submit online login credentials into the MeasureOne platform and give consent there directly. MeasureOne then accesses and shares only the requested data, allowing secure and efficient processing of the application on behalf of that potential employer or lender, sometimes in seconds. The data can verify a range of information, including identity, employment history, and income without lengthy forms to fill out or time-consuming document uploads. All while requiring the user to pre-approve of any information that will be provided to the requesting party.
Real-World Examples of CPD You May Have Already Used
If this process sounds familiar, that’s because the technology is not brand new. Paying for a product or service with Venmo or Zelle is one common example of CPD’s convenience and security. Instead of entering your credit card number or banking info each time you initiate a transaction, potentially exposing your private info on an unverified eCommerce site or app with poorly configured security, you allow Venmo to access your bank account or credit card on your behalf. This walls off the transaction so that your payment can be processed without exposing sensitive data to that eCommerce site or to hackers that may have compromised it.
Why Is Consumer-Permissioned Data Valuable?
CPD has obvious benefits for consumers, particularly data security and privacy. With so many high-profile data breaches and so much commerce online, customers are rightfully concerned. Seventy-five percent of respondents of a 2018 survey said they wouldn’t interact with a brand online after a data breach. That kind of impact should incentivize any business to be very cautious about how it handles consumer data. Instead, a CPD platform allows a consumer to give direct permission so that the platform can provide the business only the data it needs and that the consumer has given express permission to provide, without compromising consumer privacy or writing a blank check for the consumer’s data. That builds trust between the consumer and the business while protecting the consumer’s privacy and the business’s liability: a two-way street.
But beyond alleviating consumer privacy concerns, what value does a CPD platform hold for businesses? For companies that request data to process loans or insurance applications or to screen potential tenants and employees, a consumer-permissioned data platform like MeasureOne streamlines the process so that companies can get the data they need to verify information fast – within minutes or even seconds. And with a flexible solution like MeasureOne, companies can choose API, zero-code or third-party hosted solutions to better integrate the process into their existing workflow. A user-friendly CPD platform also offers higher completion rates over other data-gathering processes.
What Industries Use Consumer-Permissioned Data?
CPD is essential for financial institutions offering consumer lending and credit, but other industries benefit too. Higher education institutions can leverage CPD to review transcripts and process transfer students more efficiently. Hiring managers and property managers can use CPD to conduct thorough and efficient background prescreens of potential tenants and employees. And marketers and insurance underwriters alike can enhance their offerings by verifying eligibility for student discounts.
CPD vs. Data Warehouses
To better target potential customers and serve existing ones, businesses of all kinds rely on consumer data. For everyone from lenders to marketing professionals, consumer data is key. But not all take advantage of the data security benefits of a CPD platform. So what is the alternative? In order to process loan applications or verify eligibility for a student discount, some businesses use traditional data warehouses. Data warehouses store huge amounts of consumer data, sometimes internally and sometimes by third parties, to verify information. Some of these data companies collect and sell data to other third-party vendors. Data privacy is an obvious concern with this process. Unlike a CPD platform, the consumer has little to no control over which data is shared and how, leaving it vulnerable to misuse and security breaches.
Is Consumer-Permissioned Data Safe?
Yes. CPD is inherently safer than the alternatives in that consumer-permissioned data puts you, the consumer, in control of the data you share with a business. Imagine a potential lender wants to verify your income for a mortgage application. In a traditional income verification, you might upload a pay stub, and the potential lender will have access to all the information printed on it, including private information they may not need. When you log into a CPD platform, however, the platform connects to your pay stub data but relays only the data you have explicitly granted access to for that lender to process your application, say, the date of that recent paycheck and the amount you were paid.
Improve Your Users’ Data Security & Completion Rates
Today’s consumers are savvier than ever. They know the value of their data and have well-founded concerns about how that data is used, and being responsive to and respectful of those concerns is essential to any business that wants to attract new customers and retain existing ones. A CPD platform, with its built-in data privacy and control benefits, offers obvious advantages over the use of traditional data warehouses. With a Consumer-Permissioned Data platform like MeasureOne, companies can reassure customers that their data remains safe, private and secure. And MeasureOne’s seamless API means higher conversion rates for companies that use it. Ready to learn more about how MeasureOne’s CPD platform can make your business more efficient and keep your customers’ data more secure?
