What is changing our lives and how we work in the new era of big data? It would seem privacy is a big one. 

The issue of data privacy and ethics has been an ongoing discussion and a controversial topic for a while now. Just how much information should organizations collect on their customers and how should they use it?  

The predictive nature and strength of AI relies on data and its self-learning ability to make sense of huge volumes of data. As we enter into the new digital era and 4^thIndustrial revolution, data is being seen as not only ‘king’ but the ‘new oil’. 

As organizations strive to gather data on consumers in order to predict and meet their needs, the issue of ethics and trust arises on how this information is being used.

Think you are not affected? If you use Siri, Alexa, Google or Facebook (to name a few), your data is at stake and at the centre of this debate. As customers become more demanding, and organizations work hard to win the consumer war, putting the “customer first” also means “data first”. 

Should the government regulate AI, Robotics, and many of these new technologies, or should these organizations be self-regulating? In our opinion, it is not one or the other. Both the government and organizations will need to be proactive in setting policies and regulations that allow for economic and societal advancement, as well as protecting human rights and privacy. 

A big advocate for the government and organizations being proactive in embedding privacy upfront into their design is Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Privacy Expert and former Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, as well as one of our speakers at the Change Leadership Conference on May 8th, 2019.

Dr. Ann resigned last year from her advisory and consulting role on the ‘Sidewalk Labs’ project set to build a “smart” neighbourhood on Toronto’s waterfront. Her resignation was due to concerns over data privacy on how personal information and data was being managed. 

As you lead and drive change, how are you preparing for these issues, and how does it personally affect you? We will be asking Dr. Ann on May 8th. 

Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta

Yvonne is a Change Management Strategist, Catalyst and Change Leadership Advocate who is passionate about working with professionals and organizations to help them to successfully lead change. You can learn more about Yvonne at: www.yvonnerukeakpoveta.com, and also connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.