Apple’s Tracking Changes Are Only the Beginning of a Massive Shift in Data-Driven Business

When Apple announced it would force companies to ask users for permission to track them on devices such as the iPhone, the ad tech industry had a collective meltdown. In particular, Facebook, the world’s second largest digital advertising network, decried the change, claiming it would massacre the small businesses that rely on the consumer data Facebook and others stealthily procure.

But for those hoping to reverse or circumvent Apple’s privacy changes, Google delivered a wake-up call, saying it would cut off access to consumer data on Android devices for all users who opt out of tracking. Google did not go as far as Apple, as the company is not alerting users to tracking every time they open an app and foregrounding the choice to opt out. But the world’s largest advertising network is clearly following Apple’s lead, and Google said it may provide “even more informed control” over tracking in the future. 

It is only a matter of time before Google fully follows Apple’s example, hoping to shield itself from pro-privacy regulators and undercut its rival’s opportunity for brand differentiation on privacy. The days of the Google advertising ID, which allows advertisers to track Android users from app to app and site to site on mobile devices, are numbered. 

What’s more, Google’s privacy changes will mark an even more seismic shift in the mobile tracking market than Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy. That’s because Google controls about 72% of the global smartphone market. And let’s not forget that Google already said it is ending third-party cookies on its market-leading Chrome browser, ending the relentless tracking party on desktop. Combined, the downgrade of both cookies and mobile IDs will cut off access to consumer data on desktop and mobile, forcing businesses to seek new, less covert ways to understand their customers. 

Businesses and consumers alike should understand the tech giants’ privacy changes as a major opportunity to shift the status quo of data-driven business. But these changes are a stepping stone. Preparing for the future of business requires more dramatic action.

What privacy changes mean for consumers and businesses

Advertisers should see these changes as a seismic shift — one that portends not the end of data-driven enterprise but the demise of an unethical way of doing business that treated all consumer information as open for harvest and monetization with or without consumer consent. The time when advertisers and social networks could track consumers across the Web or app ecosystems, gleaning deeply personal information about them and leveraging that to sell ads or develop products unbeknownst to consumers, is over. Google and Apple are making it increasingly impossible, governments will eventually make it illegal, and the changes by both Big Tech and legislators are increasing public understanding so that consumers will not accept the status quo any longer. 

For consumers, Apple and Google’s privacy changes are a step in the right direction, but they do not go nearly far enough. Decades of improperly collected data is already out there, and covert data collection still happens. Most importantly, there is still only one destination where consumers can go to access all that data, see what of their personal information is out there, and inform businesses about what aspects of their personal lives they consent to hand over for storage and monetization. 

The future of the data-driven economy is not individual platforms giving consumers the ability to turn off tracking. It is comprehensive access to a consumer’s digital profile and the ability for the consumer to signal to businesses precisely what’s fair game and what’s off-limits. 

For businesses, recognizing that a new era of consent-driven business is beginning is just the first step. The next one is to get smart and honest about where the data that fuels your business is coming from and whether it was obtained with the consumer’s full knowledge and consent. 

The discussion dominating ad tech trades about which mobile tracking solution will triumph in the wake of cookies’ disappearance is a distraction. Leading the next generation of data-driven business won’t be about who devises the sneakiest ATT or Google policy workaround. The winners will be the companies that invest in solutions that treat consumer consent as a first principle, not a hurdle. 

Companies that rely on half measures will be scrambling to make disruptive changes again the next time Apple or Google has a change of heart. But executives willing to invest aggressively in ethically sourced data will be ahead of both regulators and Big Tech. On top of that, their data won’t just be more ethical; it will be more timely and accurate than the consumer data on which most businesses run today.

The future of data-driven business

There is no future-proof data-driven business model without a truly consent-first identity solution. That is what we are building at Reklaim: a single, next-generation data ecosystem where consumers can access the data that’s been collected about them. Some consumers will use that access to verify their data and tell businesses what they consent to handing over, possibly earning a reward in return. Others may not share their data, opting instead to use an authenticated digital profile to securely sign into third-party applications.  

Maybe Jane Doe is okay with telling retailers her age, gender, interests, and location, while she is willing to disclose less information to the auto industry and more to financial partners. We are building an app where Jane can clarify her preferences and verify her information — the only destination where this is holistically possible.

With Reklaim, Jane can finally gain access to the information about her that marketing executives have traded for years. She can take back the power over her own data, feel better about her relationship with the businesses that rely on her information, and even earn some revenue off sales of her identity.  

The businesses that buy access to Jane’s data via Reklaim are not just getting fully consented, privacy legislation-proof information. They are getting ahead of the next privacy tsunami, which Apple will trigger the next time it swipes away all the mobile IDs that ad tech is whipping up to track users with anything less than full, transparent consumer consent. What’s more, unlike the consumer data currently on the market, Reklaim data is time-stamped and verified by the consumer herself.  

Executives should understand that there is no need to invest in fully consented data because privacy is your pet political issue or out of a sense of moral obligation. Do it because consented data is the emerging gold standard: a quality, fraud-proof data solution for an industry that has been sacrificing quality to quantity for far too long.