Privacy plans have been developed in 51.1 percent of the organizations that participated in the 13th annual Information Systems and E-Business Spending study conducted by Computer Economics. “This is a considerable increase from 2001 when only 33.3 percent of the respondents had developed their privacy plans,” said Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research at Computer Economics. Mr. Erbschloe is also the co-author of Net Privacy: A guide to developing & implementing an ironclad ebusiness privacy plan and author of The Executive’s Guide to Privacy Management.
“Many organizations moved forward out of the research phase into the piloting, implementation, and completion phases, but there are still a lot organizations lagging behind on privacy management even though they are moving ahead in ecommerce,” said Erbschloe.
A big question is: Do all organizations need a privacy plan? The 23.4 percent of organizations that have not started developing their privacy plan need the plan as they evolve their website and ecommerce practices. Of the organizations in the 2002 study 97.2% have websites, 53.2% have implemented at least one ecommerce application, and an additional 27.4% are in the process of implementing an ecommerce application.
The following table shows the status of privacy planning by industry sector for 2002 along with what was reported in 2001.
Figure 1: Status of Privacy Planning 2002 Compared to 2001
|
Sector |
No Activity |
Researching |
Piloting |
Implementing |
In Place |
|
All sectors |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
23.4% |
10.9% |
3.2% |
11.5% |
51.1% |
|
2001 |
23.5 |
26.2 |
4.4 |
12.0 |
33.3 |
|
Banking and Finance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
19.0 |
4.8 |
0.0 |
19.0 |
57.2 |
|
2001 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
7.9 |
25.0 |
32.1 |
|
Discrete Manufacturing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
34.6 |
7.7 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
57.7 |
|
2001 |
24.2 |
17.5 |
9.2 |
18.8 |
30.3 |
|
Healthcare |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
13.0 |
3.9 |
17.4 |
26.1 |
39.6 |
|
2001 |
11.9 |
34.3 |
0.0 |
17.9 |
35.9 |
|
Insurance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
13.6 |
22.7 |
4.5 |
27.3 |
31.9 |
|
2001 |
12.2 |
33.1 |
0.0 |
8.9 |
45.8
|
|
Process Manufacturing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
32.1 |
14.3 |
3.6 |
10.7 |
39.3 |
|
2001 |
46.4 |
10.8 |
3.5 |
0.0 |
39.3 |
|
Professional Services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
24.1 |
10.3 |
3.4 |
13.8 |
48.4 |
|
2001 |
31.0 |
26.2 |
7.1 |
11.9 |
23.8 |
|
Retail Distribution |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
33.3 |
12.5 |
4.2 |
8.3 |
41.7 |
|
2001 |
28.6 |
22.5 |
3.2 |
7.5 |
38.2 |
|
State and Local Government |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
8.7 |
21.9 |
0.0 |
4.3 |
65.1 |
|
2001 |
11.1 |
45.8 |
0.0 |
16.7 |
26.4 |
|
Trade Services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
23.6 |
5.9 |
0.0 |
17.6 |
52.9 |
|
2001 |
26.9 |
29.3 |
7.3 |
12.1 |
24.4 |
|
Transportation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
38.5 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
61.5 |
|
2001 |
46.6 |
13.3 |
0.0 |
9.0 |
31.1 |
|
Utilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
13.0 |
8.0 |
5.3 |
10.5 |
63.2 |
|
2001 |
5.3 |
42.1 |
10.5 |
5.3 |
36.8 |
|
Wholesale Distribution |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
27.3 |
18.2 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
54.5 |
|
2001 |
23.1 |
24.4 |
4.5 |
14.4 |
33.6 |
March 2002
