Click here for the latest news on the Bill . Collection is the first stage of the information handling cycle. In most cases, the immediate purpose will be clear - to supply the product or service ordered. However, a business might have other purposes for collecting information from customers, such as to conduct a customer satisfaction survey, to identify the reach of an advertising campaign, or for later service calls. Another common purpose is to use the customer details to market other goods and services.
Some businesses rent or sell their customer lists to other organisations.
Your purposes will need to be identified so that an appropriate policy concerning collection, use and disclosure of customer information can be developed. Once the purposes have been identified, you need to check that you only collect information that is relevant for those purposes. This applies to collection both directly from customers and from another source, such as a public register. Don't continue collecting information which isn't relevant or necessary simply because 'its company policy' or 'we've always asked for it'. Customers are increasingly likely to challenge the routine expectation that they must provide personal details to businesses and they will expect full explanations.