Everyone is excited to give 2020 the boot. And while we don’t quite know what to expect in 2021, it can’t get any worse. Or can it? As businesses prepare for a new year, with a new set of challenges and new ways of working that may never change, one thing they need to be prioritizing is data privacy. Because if the dominoes fall and privacy is involved, the repercussions can result in a disaster.

The pandemic has reversed attitudes on privacy. Before, both businesses and consumers saw a clear line forward: more privacy. Now, it’s less defined. Contact tracing apps? Pre-pandemic, the idea could have been seen as violating personal privacy. Now? It’s become more acceptable – within guidelines – to track people’s whereabouts and risks. Monitoring employee behaviors online? Before it was a questionable practice that trod a fine line between privacy and corporate necessity. But now, businesses are faced with large remote workforces and many are considering ways to keep an eye on productivity, despite employees’ distaste or resentment. And, as consumers are taking more of an interest in understanding how their data could be used, and within what limitations, there is less surprise or paranoia around legitimate ad targeting and personalized content.