As customers ask pointed questions about how their data will be stored, accessed and managed, companies are increasingly having to come up with satisfactory answers. This dialogue is raising the distinct possibility that business may soon be declaring the value of data on company accounting statements, especially when high-profile breaches can have a significant monetary impact on a firm.

A study recently released by Cisco Systems Inc. showed that customer concerns about data management are leading to sales delays of up to 16 weeks. It’s an indication that companies will need to begin thinking about better management of data as an asset or it could have a significant impact on the bottom line.

“One day, information will be on the corporate balance sheet, because it’s more valuable than the hardware that processes it,” said Michelle Dennedy (pictured, right), vice president and chief privacy officer at Cisco, recalling a prediction made years ago. “That day is now.”

Dennedy visited the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Cisco Live event in Barcelona, Spain, and spoke with co-hosts John Furrier (@furrier) and Stu Miniman (@stu). She was joined by Robert Waitman (pictured, left), director of data valuation and privacy at Cisco. They discussed the results of Cisco’s study and economic implications for how data will be handled in the future. (* Disclosure below.)

Privacy-immature companies pay a price

Cisco’s study showed that privacy-mature organizations had shorter delays in closing new business and experienced lower losses in data breaches. The findings underscored how data management is beginning to have a direct business impact, even though information is still not listed as an asset.

“Data is not on the balance sheet, so we don’t typically value it and manage it the way we value all of our other assets,” Waitman said. “However, by having data that’s well-curated, you can unlock value for the organization.”

Data privacy policies are under more scrutiny this year due, in part, to the pending implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. The new regulation governs how companies must handle data for any European citizen and goes into effect in May.

Cisco’s study showed that in the current climate of heightened awareness over data privacy, companies would be wise to begin paying closer attention to how data is captured and when it will be deleted. “It’s not just about compliance, this is about business value both on the revenue and cost side, as well as the ethical standards that we’re trying to set,” Waitman said. “We should be doing these privacy controls because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of the GDPR environment.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Cisco Live Barcelona 2018. (* Disclosure: Cisco Systems Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cisco Systems nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE