As data is now becoming the lifeblood for businesses, securing customers’ trust through data protection is a necessity 

By NURUL SUHAIDI / TMR FILE PIC

LEVERAGING on data security management can help businesses navigate their unique offerings as well as secure a better future for digital finance services. 

ADVANCE.AI chief commercial officer Lim Teng Sherng, shared that when it comes to data privacy and protection, trust is the fundamental element. 

“Businesses, especially the digital financial services, must look beyond the digital banking framework and invest in securing their data to understand the customers’ needs and improve their overall business decision,” Lim said. 

As data is now becoming the lifeblood for businesses, securing customers’ trust through data protection is a necessity and helps businesses mitigate the risk of failing. 

“There is no shortcut in data security. Any lapses in data management can damage the reputation, may lead to the intangible added cost, which may cost more than the cost to set up the business itself,” he told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR). 

He added that consumers and financial players need to understand the need for data privacy security and strengthen their security defence mechanism to safeguard their data now as digital financial services are becoming the centre of the economy and key enabler for most online services such as e-commerce and travel booking apps. 

Every individual record of purchase or spending behaviour, especially through banking transactions, can be analysed through financial services data. 

“By getting all of this information right, it would be helpful to customise and tailor your product and services and match the customers’ needs,” Lim said. 

As online transactions grow, data is at risk from hackers and other bad cyber actors. 

Lim added, from a risk perspective, it is much more difficult to authenticate the person’s identity for digital banking services these days as compared to traditional banking. 

“In traditional banking, we used to have one set of identity document, and having a person present can be sufficient as the source of identity. However, for the digital option it is harder to authenticate and identify a person to ensure that the presented data is not a stolen identity, since users tend to have multiple accounts for different purposes,” Lim said. 

He said that the new digital banking framework released by Bank Negara can serve as a benchmark and pushing point for industry players to remain competitive while staying ahead of competitors. 

Lim said the lack of a data-centric culture is a challenge to business growth. Regardless of the company size and nature, having a digital mindset that is not resistant to data is critical as a starting point especially for the recent adopters. 

“This can be reflected through perceiving data as the company’s biggest asset which leads everyone in various positions to be more careful in revealing data. 

“Having the right mindset naturally will assist the company take a proper business decision, solution, technology and policy while putting into consideration their data safety needs,” he said. 

By doing this, the company will be able to identify where the fraud and breaches may occur and can implement the strategy from various dimensions. 

“Fundamentally, this also requires in-depth training, and explanation. Given the digitalisation adoption shifts rapidly, the manpower and skills also need to meet the industry demands,” he told TMR. 

Lim said that the current increase of data leaks and fraud is often a result of leniency and weak security defences.

Therefore, it is advisable for a financial organisation to detect early signs of fraud, such as an elicit transaction, as early as possible. 

The solution is to consider finding a robust one-stop platform that offers a comprehensive, less friction with cross-check monitoring feature to help companies deal with numerous mitigation issues. 

Although a business may deploy multiple solutions, Lim believes that artificial intelligence (AI) intervention is a compelling option in protecting data as it enables comprehensive fixes as compared to other solutions. 

With AI, early intervention such as facial recognition, identification of human error and social media analytics allow businesses to use data to leverage and eventually improve the overall performance. 

“The key is to achieve the solutions that offer the right balance of friction and convenience for the customers. It also needs to be able to give more accurate and quick risk decisions,” he concluded.