Who to trust?

Google? Nope.

Facebook? Nope.

Amazon? Not really.

Zuckerberg?

Page?

Bezos?

Probably not – they come across as the type of people who will look away when you shake their hand – a sure sign in my experience to be immediately wary of intention, authenticity and respect….

Microsoft? Hmmm potentially.

Nadella? Now you may be reading this and saying who? Well, that’s a good thing – Satya Nadella - he’s the CEO of Microsoft. Someone who seems to just be getting on with looking after a business, its staff and customers.

Now, I know this is a very personal viewpoint but something about Microsoft, my data and their security makes me trust them more.

Something about the fact that they don’t just sell my information to advertisers to make money.

Something about the fact that they don’t keep my data just to sell me content.

Something about the fact that they haven’t ‘appeared’ to have any large data breaches, that they are a long-standing, maybe slightly boring business built by engineers and techies not marketers.

Something about the fact that they don’t fire cars into space, create a platform for hate and racism and don’t see me as their product.

Am I naïve, am I not with the program?

I know I don’t wear jeans that are too tight for me or have a massive beard, I don’t profess to be a growth hacker, innovationist or constantly feel the need to hurriedly reinvent myself and call it ‘pivoting’, but I really do feel as though we are in a period of change within the digital industry.

It’s a period where a more trusting and ‘human’ way of using tech and digital to improve lives is gathering pace -  a renewed understanding of the privacy (or at least ‘knowing openness’) of our personal data is upon us, the mental health impact of being constantly online is becoming better understood and the understanding of not just the benefits but also the risks of AI and machine learning is being discussed.

Trust is important, faith in those businesses that support this period of huge digital change is being challenged, the norm is being revised – maybe the one company that has seen it all before is best placed to be the one that benefits from today’s blending of the digital and the personal.

But could it be that in twelve months’ time I’ll take a look back at this and see how wrong I was…?