DATA OWNERSHIP IS KEY - today!

The Importance Of Owning Your Digital footprint knowledge has come via 25+ years of experience in network design and IT security; along with 20 years of non-profit experience – there is one common thing that we must look at in this day and age. It was back in 2004 when I was approached by someone with a business idea to create a system that does data-mining. If you do not know what that is, well it is happening right under you right now. If you are reading this on your mobile phone, your physical location is being stored, what you are reading is being stored, and how much time you spend on your mobile app is being stored.

Notice they frankly say, “according to recent data.” That data is from data mining. Although the idea seemed promising financially when I was approached by that friend back in 2004, and very doable using a database, after some deep consideration I did not feel comfortable doing it.

If you still don’t believe it – go to the supermarket and use that “discount card” and by some ice cream, then don’t buy ice cream for 2 months and go back there. Watch and see what coupon you get – yup, a coupon for ice cream. They know what you buy, how often you buy it, your phone#, address and any other questions they ask on that “intake form”.

This lead me on a campaign to promote ownership of data. Many do not know that the moment you post a photo or video on social media – you retain copyright ownership, but public use is authorized by that social media with no requirement to let you know. And if they decide to cancel your account – guess what those images unless you saved it off of social media – is now GONE. They are under no obligation to return data to you.

Data Privacy?

In the non-profit and business world this is VERY true when using outside vendors for your data, member data, and even donation reporting. When was the last time you read the Terms and Conditions of your non-profit donation system vendor; or your business’ online platform you use for scheduling and the data they collect about you AND your customers?

Here is a snapshot from a key vendor in the church management space.

Now data in this day and age is going to be collected – there is truly no way around it unless you go “off the grid”. Which if you are leading a non-profit or a business may not be the best idea on how to grow.

But why can’t YOU own that data? The only thing stopping this is a solution that you host and manage.

If you were to ask our clients both business and non-profit we advocate for them to own their data and websites. We tell them to purchase their domain from google using https://domains.google.com, (now https://domains.squarespace.com) the reason why we explain in detail on this blog. The website should be hosted on a hosting company that controls more than just serving the site. When you have control over these things – you control what data is collected by any visitor.

In the IT world data is KING. Names, addresses, family members, how often they visit church (when they’re not home), and how often they use your services as a business. All of this data most non-profits and businesses host it on a vendor that has the or a similar privacy policy listed above.

The statement shared above from this vendor seems innocent enough however there are many ambiguous statements such as “in the good faith belief” or “to protect and defend the rights or property of the company”. Later in that privacy policy, (and in most Software as a Service in the cloud business) they mention how they do not support “DNT” which is do not track technology. As well as statements like, “Data processed by Planning Center can be classified in two ways: Data that has been collected by us for our own purposes;…” Yet they never define what “their purpose are”.

When you are able to host your own non-profit management system or business management system and maintain it on your own – not using a third party vendor there may still be privacy policy challenges but you decide how data is collected and shared.

Data ownership is security at its best. When you own it – then you have control over how and what is being collected and what you do with it.

Let’s chat to discuss your current status! no obligation.

“we dont charge for relationship building…”
– Marc Garcia – President

SEO for Someone else...

This concept also goes into the very basics of marketing as well. Why do you have to advertise another company when the data is all yours? For example, WIX is infamous for this. Here is a snippet of code from a WIX site – this is on EVERY WIX hosted and designed site.

Now I know it may look like a mess of stuff, but let me share. One item is the meta information. This is used by Google for search engine optimization (how you show up in search engines). Them putting WIX in there creates a referral link which is GOLD in SEO. This site is referring WIX to the world. Now as a designer, there is a lot more superfluous code in there including even Microsoft licensing since they use Microsoft’s design codex (method of presenting the site). 90% of all Wix sites were affected by the recent Microsoft outage, that caused flight cancelations and major issues.

When you use a church management software – it is their logo showing up on the top or yours? When you use a scheduling software for your business is it all about them or your business? Yet you pay them to advertise their platform on the shoulders of your business. There have been some legal cases decided based on the logo presented to the user and who is responsible for the data and who owns the data.

Aside from security issues that may arise from lack of ownership there is one other key item. Fidelity and vendor sustainability. What happens if the vendor stops doing business? What happens if you decide that the relationship has ended? What happens if you cannot pay them due to a pandemic? They own the data, and they will not release it until you are paid up, or have resolved any legal issues, or never if they just cease to exist. We all know they are not obligated to let you know they are stopping their business activity beforehand so you can back up your data.

The other potential issue would be if there is an investigation by a government entity. The vendor IS NOT PROTECTED under the same laws of a 501C3 organization. This is why in the above example they say they will disclose information based on legal requirements. They are not protected like a 501C3 organization is. They are a business, for profit.