The executive question is who has authority and accountability for ensuring the integrity of the customer experience. Safety includes privacy and security but goes beyond the technical operations of each of these. The obverse of trust here is betrayal. A core problem for all online businesses is that personalization and customization are key to building relationships and that they involve gathering as much information about the customer as possible. In addition, revenue models often rest not on making money from a direct transaction but by referrals, electronic partnerships, and cross selling, all of which makes customer data a currency in the New Economy.
Most people are still wary of how and where they provide credit card and personal data.
Businesses show their concern about company data by their heavy investments in firewalls, encryption, and network monitoring tools. Safety is a perception - a sense of personal comfort. Although credit card fraud on the Internet is much lower than for transactions in the offline world, if people don't feel safe, no amount of statistics or claims will change that perception. Statistically, driving to the airport is a thousand times more dangerous than flying on a plane, but most people feel safer driving than sitting in a giant cigar tube at 30,000 feet. You can't force people to feel safe, but a sense of safety is the core of trust in every element of life.