Trust is a difficult concept to define, but in general, it is created by several factors contributing, plus variable amounts of time and experience. In enterprise today, we talk about trust in the same breath as “customer experience,” and true enough, constructing a positive customer interaction is most definitely dependent on trust. In data, information risk, and protection terms, trust is earned as a result of perceived attitudes and practices being verifiable as true, over several months, if not years.

So why aim to create trust? Firstly, being proven as trustworthy is necessary in law. Beyond that, however, trust is the basis of positive relationships: with suppliers, with trading partners, and with your customers. Trust is best-practice, and ensures there’s a positive future for the organization.

Who to turn to, to help put in place what’s needed to increase trust and confidence levels in business? For EY, its global reach and long history as one of the world’s longest-standing providers of professional services and knowledge mean that its pedigree and experience put it ahead of alternatives.

Taking their well-earned reputation for excellence across Asia-Pacific, the EY Trust by Design approach helps companies create those frameworks and practices which are actively creating bonds between companies and their customers, suppliers, and partners. Ensuring trust in every interaction is incredibly important in today’s digitized world, as there’s rarely a day when the news doesn’t contain word of a data breach, lost customer credentials, unsanctioned use of customer data in pursuit of profit or any other business decision made without full knowledge of the risk being taken.

Enterprise needs to look beyond the IT Department for the answers: data security and governance is the responsibility of every function in the business. And while the CISO’s desk is where “the buck stops,” each division, and individual in modern organizations works with technology and digital information every day, so each one has a measure of responsibility to bear, to ensure information risks are kept low and customer trust is maintained.

That might sound onerous and for non-IT staff, perhaps difficult to enact. But the EY Trust By Design approach helps worldwide enterprises embed risk awareness into every activity.

In some cases, it’s a question of educating staff, while in others, it’s down to identifying risky processes that endanger information’s viability. To establish the baseline required for a trusted and secure posture, EY helps companies identify the threat environment in which they operate, and their data systems, practices and assets — assets here means both technologies and humans.

From that position of knowledge, companies can begin to better implement procedures that will protect themselves in all interactions, both internal and external. By building into new processes and change management practice a mentality that pro-actively furthers the trust profile of the organization, the business benefits become manifest.

The results go beyond protecting the organization’s data in a pure cybersecurity sense. Instead, because almost every activity in the enterprise involves digital activity, EY helps develop full end-to-end policies that help all staff and systems think in terms of data ownership, governance, risk, and responsibility.

Clearly, the EY approach simply cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach, and it is not. Existing practices and facilities are utilized and added to as necessary. EY staff are happy to work on-site with an organization’s teams or keep to a hands-off consultative approach. EY will fully manage all or some of ongoing security operations and provide or manage an existing technology stack as necessary. So whether an enterprise needs help in creating a secure road map for a service migration, or is looking for a full infrastructure and IT architecture security audit, the company’s extensive experience and range of specialist partners is waiting. A long-term strategic alliance with EY will mean that an organization’s customers, partners, and suppliers can work together and transact with one another more confidently. With confidence comes increased trade, better reputational impact, and massively slashed chances of data being lost or hacked.

In Asia-Pacific alone, EY employs around 2,800 cybersecurity staff. It currently operates 12 security centers, comprising research labs as well as “traditional” Security Operations Centers (SOCs), and its advanced capabilities mean it can help with next-gen IoT deployments or baseline staff training alike, with the same professionalism you’ve come to expect.

With every department, division and workgroup now running digital systems, the time for a system of trust to spread into every corner of the enterprise is now. For a discussion with a suitably qualified subject expert to help your company with its data governance, security and trust matters, get in touch with EY Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Risk Advisory Leader, Richard Watson.