Privacy is the foundation of trust

Linda

Privacy Week 2022 is 9 – 14 May 2022. This year, the theme is Privacy: The Foundation of Trust.
In the blog below, Jared Nicoll from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner outlines the steps small businesses should be taking to ensure information they collect is kept safe.

If you hold personal information, you must protect the privacy and mana of those who have entrusted it to you. As well as meeting your legal obligations, taking care of New Zealanders’ personal information helps ensure people maintain trust and confidence in your organisation.

The Privacy Act applies to any person, organisation, or business that collects and holds personal information about other people. Knowing how to safely manage people’s personal information is a cornerstone for building strong relationships and good business.

For Privacy Week 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has focused on events and activities to help agencies understand and improve their privacy practices, The theme for this year’s Privacy Week is Privacy: The Foundation of Trust. OPC has collaborated with others across the privacy community to put on a week of webinars and workshops across a broad range of privacy-related topics from 9 to 14 May.

Topics include a panel discussion on Tikanga Māori and Privacy: reflections from the High Court review of decisions about Māori Covid-19 vaccination data; a workshop on cyber-incident response best practice; plus specialist privacy expertise for those working in specific industries including healthcare and education. Visit privacy.org.nz for further details.

To support this year’s Privacy Week events, here is some more information to help those in businesses understand their obligations.

All businesses must have someone familiar with privacy obligations who fulfils the role of a privacy officer. In smaller organisations, the manager is normally responsible for all legal compliance, including privacy.

Only collect information you need

 Only collect personal information that’s necessary for a clear lawful purpose. Your purpose is what you’re trying to achieve by collecting the information. For example, it could be to deliver a product or service, or find the right person to employ.

Think carefully about why you are collecting it. Don’t collect people’s identifiers such as name, phone number, etc unless it’s necessary for your collection purpose. If the personal information you are asking for isn’t necessary to achieve something closely linked to your organisation’s activities, you shouldn’t collect it.

Always try to get it directly from the person when possible, and ensure they understand what you will do with it. If your lawful purpose changes or you want to use the personal information you have collected for an unrelated purpose, you are likely to need the agreement of the people you collected it from.

Store personal information securely

Make sure that you take reasonable steps to store and use personal information securely. You may need a locked cabinet for physical documents, or password protection for electronic files. Do you use portable storage devices such as USBs? Are they encrypted?

Make sure only appropriate people can access the information. Depending on the sensitivity of the information, it may be necessary to set up systems that limit or keep track of who accesses it.

People have the right to access the personal information you hold about them, and to correct anything when necessary.

Don’t keep personal information for longer than you need

Businesses shouldn’t keep information for longer than they need it. Holding more information means a greater risk of a privacy breach. However, retaining key information can be helpful, for example if a customer returns to your service. Remember, ensure people understand what you will do with their information from the start.

Once it is no longer required, dispose of personal information securely so that no-one can retrieve it. For example:

  • remove names, addresses and birthdates from documents before you dispose of them
  • use shredders and secure destruction services
  • wipe hard drives from machines – including photocopiers – before you sell or decommission them
  • delete back-up files as well as originals.

Human error and the need for good email hygiene

More than 60 per cent of privacy breaches last year were due to ‘human error’.  Businesses are responsible for ensuring their systems are fit for purpose and that the personal information they hold is protected by reasonable security safeguards.

Poor email hygiene is a common cause of privacy breaches.

One example we were made aware of involved an email containing detailed health information about a group of patients, which was intended to be sent internally to the staff of a medical provider. A typing error in the ‘TO’ field resulted in a member of the public receiving these patients’ medical records. Having their sensitive personal information exposed in this way caused considerable emotional harm to a number of these patients.

Respect the people whose information you’re sending by double-checking who you’re sending it to. Go a step further and use a delayed send option on your email to avoid any hasty mistakes. Always use the BCC field when emailing groups of recipients.  If you are emailing sensitive material, encrypt the material. If you do this, the password (phrase or code) should be sent by some method other than email so that the wrong person doesn’t receive both.

When things go wrong

If your business has a privacy breach that is likely to cause anyone serious harm, you are legally required to notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and any affected persons as soon as you are practicably able to.

Our expectation is that a breach notification should be made to our Office no later than 72 hours after agencies are aware of a notifiable privacy breach.

All privacy breaches should be appropriately noted so changes can be made to help ensure they don’t happen again.

Further information

 Please visit privacy.org.nz for further information about your rights and responsibilities under the Privacy Act.

Green Washing by guest writer Anna D’Arcy

Linda

Over the holidays you may have noticed several stories on the issue of Greenwashing including the news that fashion giant H&M had withdrawn sustainability claims after a Consumer NZ investigation.

Consumers place increasing importance on the environmental and social credentials of their purchases and much of the green market claims arena is currently loose and based on trust.

Green Wash is an attempt to mislead consumers about the ethics of a company, product or service with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority estimating that around 40% of green claims could be misleading.

The European Union has proposed regulations that would require entities to officially substantiate claims with a life cycle assessment, and if that goes through it will only be a matter of time before NZ exporters to the EU are required to follow through.

 How can business in New Zealand avoid Green Wash?

The New Zealand Commerce Commission has been taking the issue of Green Wash seriously and in 2020 released the Environmental Claims Guidelines to support the FTA which advised businesses to:

  • be truthful
  • be accurate
  • be specific
  • substantiate claims
  • use plain language
  • not exaggerate
  • take care when relying on tests or surveys
  • Get green claims independently verified by a credible third party

This could be through its annual reporting process or a product specific verification programme.

The Sustainable Business Network New Zealand provide a comprehensive list of certification programmes currently operating.

What can consumers do to avoid Green Wash?

  • Only trust claims that are verified through a third-party auditor, programme or certificate.
  • Check for sign offs and dates on an audit report, annual report or certificate or serial numbers of the certification or label – these should be transparent and traceable online.

If a company cannot do the above then the claim is simply their word.

Anna being presented with an award for her work with Green Impact by Colin Firth

This post introduces the first of our guest bloggers, Anna D’Arcy.  Anna is a director of  ESG Audit and founder of Green Impact, a UN Educational Laureate. She has previously lectured on ethical certification and labelling programmes at the University of London. She lives in Wellington.

If you would like further information on greenwashing or ethical marketing you can search WCL’s suite of business databases and online resources.  Access to databases is available with your library registration.

Within the book collection we have the following books both recommended by Anna :

Sustainable marketing : how to drive profits with purpose / Carvill, Michelle
“In the modern age of authenticity and transparency, consumers are no longer content with brands that are dismissive of, or even apathetic to, sustainability. Brands are now expected to convey understanding and concern when it comes to matters such as climate change, carbon footprints and employee welfare. Most importantly of all, they must be genuinely committed to these standpoints – remaining consistent and proactive in their principles. With the rise of more conscious consumers and the belief-driven buyer, organizations ignore sustainability and the spirit of ‘doing good’ at their own peril. From three marketing experts with decades of experience between them, Sustainable Marketing delivers the new benchmark for modern marketing. This book clarifies the importance of the sustainable approach before providing a comprehensive guide to implementing, driving and maintaining these practices in any organization. A must-read for any business leader or marketing executive, this is a unique and fascinating blend of academic research and practical case studies that will kick-start and inspire sustainable initiatives.” (Catalogue)

Greenwash : big brands and carbon scams / Pearse, Guy
“Going green is the new black. In recent years, McDonalds have painted their famous golden arches green, while Richard Branson has funnelled money into renewable energy. But are these newly ‘climate-friendly’ companies and brands really as green as they claim to be?” (Catalogue)

 

If you need more information please contact the Prosearch team at the library.  We can help you find information across a range of perspectives and resources.  All enquiries are treated in confidence.

 

Talking about : Customer Relationship Management

Linda
“Everyone needs weather” says Emma Blades and she should know.

A trained meteorologist, Emma is a Customer Relationship Manager with Metservice New Zealand.

Her clients are New Zealand businesses and services who depend on MetService forecasts to schedule work and to know when to take appropriate precautions in order to mitigate risk if severe weather is pending.

New Zealand’s weather can be a challenge to many businesses and can often impact on supply chains.  For instance for horticulturalists a late frost could mean damage to fruit destined for the overseas market.  With strong winds electricity lines can be brought down causing power outages.  An extended dry period and regional water supplies are impacted.

160 years ago a series of meteorological instruments were distributed throughout New Zealand in order to record weather.

From that first step the forecasting service developed. Over time it gradually evolved into the government run NZ Meteorological Service before transitioning into the State-Owned Enterprise we know as Metservice New Zealand.

Thirty years on it remains a business with a head office in Wellington and a team of over 300 staff based in offices across New Zealand as well as in Australia, Asia and Europe.

The MetService brand encompasses public weather information provided through numerous platforms and commercial services for a range of business clients.

In New Zealand this includes transport companies and airlines, regional councils, energy and lines companies and media outlets.

Metservice’s international brand, Metraweather, provides, among a number of services, weather visualisation and data services to all major Australasian news broadcasters as well as to Sky UK and Al Jazeera.

In this video I asked Emma about her role and some of the commercial aspects of the business. Emma discusses the importance of building trust and credibility with clients and the way Covid has changed client interactions.

If you are in a role managing relationships with clients you may find some of these resources available through Wellington City Libraries helpful.

From LinkedIn learning these courses may be helpful (Accessible with WCL library membership):

Client Management and Relationships
Client relationships are the foundation of your consulting business. Whether you work for a big firm or are going solo as an independent consultant, the principles of client management are the same. It’s all about building rapport, communicating effectively, and establishing trust. In this course, Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth McLeod teach you how to position yourself for success, keep communication lines open during implementation of your project, and create connections that are the foundation for lasting relationships that lead to repeat business. Plus, get tips for leveraging client relationships to sell to the entire organization

Relationships with product managers  
At a basic level, product marketing is about determining who your users are, what they need, and how to align your products with those needs. In this course, professor, speaker, and product marketing guru Jon Chang shares advanced techniques designed to help product marketers accomplish this central goal—ensuring that a product resonates with its intended audience—with finesse. Learn how to leverage different research methodologies to define your audience and match products to their needs, as well as how to create a go-to-market strategy. Plus, get tips for collaborating effectively with different stakeholders, including product managers, marketers, and other researchers.

From our book collection there are the following resources :

Think like your customer : a winning strategy to maximize sales by understanding how and why your customers buy / Stinnett, Bill
“In Think Like Your Customer Bill Stinnett draws upon more than two decades as a sales professional and consultant to the Fortune 500 to offer you a powerful new approach for connecting with clients and building enduring, highly profitable customer relationships.”–BOOK JACKET.” (Catalogue)

The virtual sales handbook : a hands-on approach to engaging customers / Kvedare, Mante
“The COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally changed the way B2B companies interact with customers, forcing companies to transition from face-to-face meetings to virtual customer interactions overnight. Even after the initial local and regional travel limitations are lifted, corporate travel is expected to be limited and it is uncertain that customers will be open to receive external partners on-site. This presents an urgent need for companies to transform towards a more virtual customer engagement model — where the first (and the most urgent) step is upskilling the commercial frontline by equipping them with the confidence, skillset and toolbox needed to effectively engage customers virtually — and hence secure existing and future revenue streams. The Virtual Sales Handbook will target Commercial Frontline people (customer-facing people such as sales representatives, commercial managers, customer relationship managers) and will have a very hands-on, concrete “how-to” approach — so the reader can apply the learnings and concepts in their customer interactions immediately. We will equip the reader with the confidence, skillset and toolbox needed to effectively engage customers virtually — making them more fit for how sales in the future will look like and hence drive their existing and future revenue streams”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


The customer rules : the 39 essential rules for delivering sensational service / Cockerell, Lee
“Today, consumers have more choice than ever before. It’s no longer enough to simply provide a service – companies who want to stay in business must also provide impeccable service with such consistency, integrity and creativity that people who experience it will not only keep coming back for more, but recommend your business to their friends, families, and colleagues.The Customer Rules is entirely focused on one ultimate goal: to help you, no matter what your position or job title, secure the most revenue-boosting asset you could wish for: a reputation for excellent service. Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations at Disney World – a company which has redefined what a business can do for their customers – shows you how: from why you should ‘Never say no – except No Problem’ to asking yourself ‘What Would Mum Do?’.His 39 easy-to-follow rules apply to any industry and any company, large, small, public, private, online or High Street. The principles revealed in this book, tried and tested in one of the world’s happiest environments, can give you everything you need to truly connect with your customers.” (Catalogue)
(Available in e-book and hard copy formats)

Finally, if you want to learn more about New Zealand’s weather and how it impacts on us all you can place a reserve for this new publication New Zealand’s Wild Weather. Copies will shortly be available through library branches.

Feedback on this post is welcome and can be submitted via the email link on the Prosearch page.

If you need more information contact the Prosearch team at the library. We can help you find information across a range of perspectives and resources. All enquiries are treated in confidence.