Increasing number of consumers own wearables that capture health and fitness data. Now sharing this data with various entities has become easier with newer apps being created that link the personal wearable data with healthcare provider network among others.
A recent survey conducted by KPMG in the UK shows that 74% of consumers are comfortable sharing their health and fitness data for the personal wearable with their general practitioners (GP). The other entity to have trust of UK consumers is the National Health Services (NHS). 48% of consumers said that they would allow the NHS to add their medical information to a single national database that can be accessed from anywhere in the country. But this trust was not for every entity. The report further shows that only 7% would be willing to share the information from wearables with their employer. Most concerns were around how the health data would be processed and only 8% were comfortable with a private firm handling this health information. And while the ownership of connected devices in the home has increased, the majority of consumers are not willing to share the information with anyone due to privacy concerns. People want the data to help them in managing their own health and fitness but don’t want to be tracked for marketing purposes.
We live in a connected world. Devices of today, may it be a temperature monitor in the home or a security system for the home or personal wearable device, are connected to the Internet. Everything has an app that monitors activities and reports back trends to the consumers and whoever else they are willing to share the data with. In this world, the biggest concern is around privacy and worry is that the information falls into wrong hands. Securing the network or your device is of immense importance to ensure that the gathered data is used for the right and legal purposes.
