The mobile mind shift: what is it? Forrester defines the mobile mind shift as the expectation that any desired information or service is available, on any appropriate device, in context, at a person's moment of need. It’s the reality that your customers (and employees!) live in today, where mobility isn’t just about devices or apps anymore but more about a change in attitude (e.g., individuals don’t just expect the availability of information/services, they demand it). With this mind shift comes a few other attitude shifts, notably around privacy and security of personal information and devices. In our 2013 surveys, Forrester saw that:

  • Given a choice of how to address security concerns on the devices they use for work, 38% of North American and European information workers prefer to do it themselves, while 20% would take action based on guidance from their employer.
  • When doing things online, 59% of US consumers are concerned about identity theft, 33% do not want their information permanently recorded and accessible to others, and 22% are concerned that their data will be sold to another company. 

So what does this mean for S&R pros? It’s a great opportunity to tap into these changing attitudes about privacy and engage the workforce as well as your organization’s customers about how to protect their privacy and take steps to secure their information. One way to do this is to make use of the growing array of consumer privacy tools available today. Consumer privacy tools fall into several broad categories specific to protecting privacy with regards to communications, reputation, activity management (online activities), family (e.g., social media monitoring, location tracking), and physical (both physical location/tracking as well as tools that alter the display of information like privacy screens for a laptop). Chances are, you have tech-savvy employees already using these both at home and in the workplace. In this case, consumerization of consumer privacy tools can work in favor of S&R.

In this recently published report for Forrester clients, Unmasking Consumer Privacy Tools, you can find data on the changing privacy and security attitudes of information workers and consumers, explore the landscape or privacy tools in greater detail, and learn about ways in which S&R pros can fold these consumer privacy solutions and services in as additional components of a security awareness toolkit and customer-facing breach response strategy. 

Are there consumer privacy tools that you use that you find useful? Or not? Any in use within your organization? Let me know! Or are there other privacy topics that you’d like to see us cover in the research? I’d love to hear from you as I continue to refine my research agenda for 2015.