Why Auto Dealer Marketers Must Understand Secure Data In Transit

The rise of e-commerce, online financing, and digital customer interaction has created a seamless car buying experience. Auto dealers and their marketing departments are embracing tools that reduce friction during the shopping and transaction process, offering conveniences such as online loan applications, virtual test drives, and digital signatures for purchase agreements. However, this shift toward a smoother, customer-centric experience comes with significant risks. By prioritizing customer experience over the security of sensitive data, many dealers are unknowingly endangering themselves, their customers, and their reputation.

Secure data in transit is a vital component of any dealer’s digital infrastructure. Whether processing financing details, transferring customer identification data, or handling any personally identifiable information (PII), safeguarding this information from potential cyber threats must be a top priority. Failing to do so leaves dealers exposed to data breaches, legal consequences, and loss of customer trust.

The Risk of Prioritizing Customer Experience Over Security

While enhancing the customer experience is essential for remaining competitive in the automotive market, doing so at the expense of data security can be disastrous. Many dealers and their marketing teams, in an effort to meet consumer demand for convenience and speed, may overlook critical security measures in the data transfer process. These include data breaches through the

Handling of large volumes of sensitive data, from customer financial records to personally identifiable information (PII). Regulatory authorities have stepped up their scrutiny of how businesses handle and protect customer information. In many jurisdictions, dealerships are subject to data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which impose strict guidelines for securing customer data.

Understanding secure digital transport (SDT) of data

Data in transit refers to data actively moving from one location to another, such as across the internet or even through private networks. This data is often transmitted between devices, systems, and applications. Ensuring the secure transport of data involves protecting it from interception, unauthorized access, and tampering during its journey. It can simply be defined as the difference between “sharing” and “sending”. Sharing implies a traditional login, passwords, pins, apps and software to download, increasing friction for customers and employees. Conversely “sending” can eliminate all of those issues, more synonymous with two packages that are mailed. “Sending” is the underlying theme of how SDT works.

SDT can be achieved through various methods, including:

1. Encryption: Encrypting data before it is transmitted ensures that even if the data is intercepted, it cannot be read without the decryption key.
2. Secure Protocols: Using secure communication protocols like HTTPS, SSL/TLS, and VPNs helps protect data during transmission by providing a secure channel.
3. Authentication: Verifying the identities of the entities involved in the data exchange ensures that data is sent and received by legitimate parties.
4. Integrity Checks: Implementing integrity checks, such as using checksums or digital signatures, ensures that data has not been altered during transit.
5. Tracking: being able to tag and track every aspect of a transport allows for data analytics, business intelligence and better visibility.

Strategies for dealers to enhance data privacy

To address these challenges and ensure the secure data in transit, auto dealerships should consider a variety of strategies such as educating employees about the importance of data privacy and the risks associated with data in transit. Regular training sessions can help employees understand and implement best practices for data security.

Leading auto retailers are partnering with advanced data solutions providers like Botdoc to build systems where retailers and their employees can transport data and documents in and out of their systems without anyone ever needing to login into the system.

In this environment, an API determines the optimal destination based on tracking metadata and business rules. Workflow automation increases operational efficiencies and reduces costs involved. Additionally, compliance is simplified with less manual human touchpoints.

Dealers should leverage state-of-the-art encryption methods to protect data during transmission and ensure that all sensitive data is encrypted before it is sent over any network. They can use secure protocols like HTTPS, SSL/TLS, and VPNs for all data transmissions, while regularly updated and maintaining these protocols to protect against emerging threats. Other dealerships will choose technologies that leverage SDT protocols making the use easier and ensuring better adoption by dealerships.

Leading dealers work with outside experts to perform regular security audits to identify vulnerabilities and assess the effectiveness of existing data privacy measures so they can address any identified weaknesses promptly. These outside cybersecurity experts design and implement robust data privacy strategies and can provide access to specialized knowledge and resources that may be lacking in-house.

New tools being used by leading dealers

New technology solutions are available today to provide a secure way for dealers to transport confidential information with end-to-end encryption. These solutions provide an easy, secure and efficient way to exchange information to ensure compliance and create operational productivity.

SDT, when in use, employees at a dealership can send and collect customer documents securely without passwords or logins through a secure link that can be used in email signature blocks, text shortcuts and even through social media. Additional functionality auto populates customer information straight into the CRM without having to enter data manually. What’s more, customer documents (drivers’ license, insurance, stips, etc.) are automatically appended to the customer’s profile in the CRM securely, eliminating additional steps and friction for the dealership employees.

SDT is a critical component of the data privacy strategies for auto dealerships today, especially in the wake of recent cyber threats. As the automotive industry continues to embrace digital transformation, dealerships must prioritize data privacy to protect customer information, comply with regulations, prevent financial losses, and safeguard their reputation.