Consumers are now demonstrating that they will “vote with their feet”—stopping or significantly reducing spending—if they believe that a company has misused data about them or other consumers. As noted, this can have dramatic results: in the US, customers who are aware of and concerned about data misuse reduce their spending by about a third in the first year.

A new approach is needed, one that is better suited to the realities of the world in which companies now operate.

Global challengers have nearly quintupled their overseas revenue from 2005 through 2014.