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Consumers will allow access to personal data for clear benefits, says Infosys study

Infosys polled 5000 digitally savvy consumers in Australia, France, Germany, UK and USA on the ways they trade personal information while using services of the retail, banking and healthcare sectors.The study shows the key challenge facing business is to navigate the complex behaviors consumers display when sharing their personal data.

  • 86% of the consumers in the poll insist on data mining based fraud protection, to the extent that they are ready to switch banks for more security. 76% of the consumers prefer targeted ads and only 13% are forthcoming to share their social profile. 58% of the consumers are willing to share personal and family medical history with doctors on the digital platform.

According to the poll conducted by Infosys consumers worldwide are more than willing to forgo personal information to get better service from their doctors, bank and retailers. However, they are very discerning about how, when and where they share such information. Today’s digital consumers are confused and sometimes skeptical about how institutions use their data,

Amongst Americans, Europeans and Australians, 91% of consumers favor doctors being furnished with electronic health information record, 77% of them with banks and 75% of them with online retailers.

However, the research shows contrasting nuances. Consumers won’t readily share personal medical history with doctors. They say they want targeted ads and yet they are wary of sharing the information to get it.

The study shows consumers understand the benefits of sharing data but remain cautious of data mining, (especially in Europe): 39 percent globally describe data mining as invasive while also saying it is helpful (35 percent), convenient (33 percent) and time saving (33 percent). Consumers in the United States were less concerned about the invasive issue (30 percent) than in the other countries surveyed, while German consumers were less willing to share personal data than in other countries.