64pc of Kenyan businesses are unaware about privacy laws governing their marketing activities and rely heavily on third-party trackers and ad platforms a survey has revealed.

Only 36pc of Kenyan businesses are aware of privacy laws governing their marketing activities, despite Data Protection Act (DPA) being in effect since 2019, the survey conducted by WorldWideWorx and commissioned by global technology company Zoho, revealed.

Even though businesses are concerned about the privacy of customer’s data in the hands of third-party vendors, they are reliant on them for revenue generation and gathering customer insights making it harder for them to move away.

According to WorldWideWorx CEO Arthur Goldstuck, the lack of awareness about the law is largely because these regulations are not part of business-critical activities like taxation and licensing. However, 77pc of the businesses indicated that they have well-documented policies for customer data protection, although only 56pc are strictly applying them.

THIRD-PARTY TRACKERS AND AD PLATFORMS

Businesses in Kenya consider themselves digitally advanced, with 28pc respondents saying they were completely digital and 18pc saying they were close to being completely digital.

Of the 352 businesses surveyed across various industries and sizes, 58pc said they allow third-party trackers on their website, mostly for sharing content on social media (64pc), tracking affiliate relationships (45pc) and ad campaigns (43pc). There is also a heavy dependence on digital ad platforms. The respondents believe that keyword search ads (36pc) and social media ads (62pc) were quite effective for customer conversion. In fact, 84pc businesses said the third-party ad platforms either help them meet or are a primary factor in achieving their sales targets.

Given this reliance on third-party vendors, it is no wonder then that, even though 56pc of businesses express concern over the use of their customer’s data, they are largely either ‘comfortable’ or ‘neither comfortable nor uncomfortable’ with the platforms. Even the 10pc who are uncomfortable state they cannot move away from the platforms as they are crucial to their business or that it is too complex to move away. Interestingly, 24pc businesses reported that they do not completely understand how third-party vendors utilise their customer information.

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“When businesses choose to use a free tracker, they are paying for it with their consumer’s data,” said Andrew Bourne, Regional Manager for Africa, Zoho. “At Zoho, we refer to this practice of third-party trackers collecting data without user knowledge as adjunct surveillance. Presently, Kenyan businesses turn a blind eye to this passive data collection by trackers, most likely, because they are dependent on them for revenue. However, consumers will eventually trust companies with transparent privacy policies that protect their personal information. Businesses hoping to stay relevant in the long term will need to either rethink their reliance on third-party platforms or demand greater transparency and accountability from them.”

Zoho had removed third-party trackers from its website in 2020, and has never sold customer data to anyone or shown ads, even in their free products. Zoho also owns its data centres and the entire technology stack of its solutions. It can, therefore, assure its users of the highest standards of privacy and security.

ON KDPR

Kenyan businesses believe that DPA either has had no effect (46pc) or a positive effect (39pc). Their biggest concerns with the law are increased cost of governance (45pc), increased complexity (27pc) and the loss of analytics data (29pc).

This study was conducted using Zoho Survey and Zoho Analytics.

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Shirleen
Shirleen is a tech writer with over 3 years of experience in the industry. She has a passion for writing about complex technical topics in a way that is easy to understand. She is also an expert in SEO. She is a highly skilled and experienced tech writer who is passionate about her work. She is also a great team player and is always willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.

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