Why Privacy Matters: How Data Ownership Shapes Trust in Modern Business Tools
- dbelykh6
- Oct 23
- 7 min read
"Data is the new oil.' - Clive Humby
Modern world is surrounded by data. It is very important to understand what data is and how it is processed.
In a common understanding, data is something we can read and understand, however, it is not always like that.
Data is a very complex mathematical algorithms that can predict
What might happen in future
Why something happened in past
How person will behave on average in different situations
How different regions react on different aspects
...and many more
Today, we rely on digital tools to manage projects, communicate with each other, track performance, make to-do lists, and serve clients. Yet with every click, upload, or shared file - a simple question arises - "Who truly owns the data behind our work?"
Data privacy is no longer just a legal concern or a checkbox on a compliance list. It is a part of how we build trust, maintain autonomy, and protect the foundation of our companies.
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We all see them on every website — those banners that politely ask us to “accept all.” Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your computer. They are divided into two categories: essential and non-essential cookies.
Essential cookies help websites function properly - they prevent attacks, enable secure sessions, and ensure that pages load as expected.
Non-essential cookies, however, do something different. They track your behavior across pages and sessions, building a digital profile of your actions and interests. That is how advertising systems learn what you clicked, what you read, and, based on this information, predict what to offer next or even what you are likely to do.
Let's be clear: cookies themselves are not harmful.
What makes them problematic is the lack of transparency around how they are used and who has access to the collected data. At Benedict Corp., we take a different approach. We do not collect non-essential information. We do not analyze your browsing behavior.
And while we might be “missing” a lot of potential analytics about your preferences, we believe it is far more important to keep you, and your data, safe.
For us, privacy is not a slogan, it is a principle. When we designed Benedict App, we built it around one core idea:
Your business should own your data - not your software provider.
The illusion of control in Modern SaaS
Modern online business lives in someone else's cloud.
SaaS services promise security, reliability, and convenience. And they deliver those things, to an extent. But behind the friendly interface lies a quiet secret - your data is being stored, processed, and sometimes analyzed by the third party.
When your company uploads project files, client information, or financial details to a platform hosted elsewhere, that information becomes a part of a shared ecosystem.
Even if platform comply with all privacy rules, your real control is relatively limited. You cannot always decide where your data is stored, who has administrative access, or what happens when you stop using service.
As per recent researches, in cloud environments roles are often mixed - platforms store data, services process it, and users merely consume results. [1]
For small and mid-sized businesses it may be less noticeable - until something goes wrong.
Subscription ends
Provider changes their policy
Or a system outage exposes sensitive data
That is when companies realize how fragile their ownership really was.
You may have a fair point — “Your application runs on Microsoft 365. Is it truly secure?”
The short answer is: no system in the world is 100% secure. Every platform, regardless of its scale, faces occasional challenges in data protection and uptime.
However, when we were deciding where the Benedict App would live, we chose Microsoft 365 for a reason. It is a platform trusted by the world’s largest corporations and government institutions, built on decades of enterprise-grade security and global compliance standards.
We will go into more technical details about this choice below.
Privacy as a foundation of trust
Trust is a silent agreement that keeps business relationships alive.
It is very hard to build trust and very easy to lose it in a second.
When clients share information with you, they assume it is handled securely. But if that data flows through multiple third-party systems beyond your control, you are trusting not only your own ethics - but those of every external vendor.
Privacy is not just about preventing leaks.
It is also about respecting integrity of your operations and the confidentiality of those who trust you.
Data ownership is not purely legal - it is a blend of accountability, technical control, and moral responsibility. [2]
Owning your data means owning your decisions.
Data Ownership: From Convenience to Autonomy
In 99% of SaaS tools, you rent both functionality and access.
You pay monthly, your data lives on their servers (usually you don't know where exactly), and if you stop paying - your access ends, sometimes along with your information.
That is the price of convenience.
At Benedict Corp., we chose a different path.
We build solutions directly inside Microsoft 365 environment - using SharePoint, Power Apps, Dataverse, and Power Automate. All inside your own Microsoft environment.
This means you or your company is the real data owner: all lists, logs, and records are stored inside your tenant. You control permissions, retention, and backups.
Benedict Corp. does not:
Host your data
Mirror your data
Access your data
That autonomy is what modern IT lacks most.
By taking this route, we eliminate the "middleman," avoiding any dependency that makes ownership seem like an illusion.
Privacy as a Driver of Productivity
It might sound a little bit strange, but privacy makes teams more productive.
When people know their environment is secure, they collaborate more freely. They share ideas and documents without hesitation because they understand exactly where the data goes. When employees question whether they can upload a contract or store a client record safely, work slows down.
A clear privacy framework removes that doubt. It creates confidence.
In Benedict App, privacy is not a policy - it is a part of experience.
Access is role-based, visibility is contextual, and all actions happen within your company's Microsoft cloud - not ours.
No Hidden Analytics, No Silent Tracking
Many "free" or low-cost tools rely on data monetization: collecting metrics, usage patterns, and behavioral analytics to fuel their business models.
SaaS providers increasingly use operational data for predictive analysis, often without full transparency about how it is processed or reused. [3]
Benedict Corp. has a very concrete principles:
We do not analyze your data in the background.
We do not track clicks, logins, or session details.
We do not train AI models on your files.
When you use our solutions, the data you see is the data you own.
About Benedict Corp.'s Standards
As we already mentioned above, when Benedict App was in early stages, we wanted it to be secure and comply with the most strict safety standards.
That is why we chose Microsoft, because it is trusted by millions of businesses as well as governments around the world.
Microsoft is certified by:
ISO/IEC 27001 - Information Security Management Standards
SOC 1 & SOC2 - Service Organization Controls
GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation (European Union)
Likely the most stringent data regulation in the world
FedRAMP & HIPAA - where applicable
...and many more.
Unlike many SaaS platforms that store customer data in shared, multi-tenant environments across global data centers, Benedict App is deployed directly inside the client’s Microsoft 365 tenant. This means the data never leaves the customer’s region — it resides on Microsoft servers located within their selected geography (e.g., EU), ensuring full compliance with local privacy regulations like GDPR. Microsoft’s data residency commitments guarantee that customer data is not migrated between regions, preserving both privacy and integrity.
Why Privacy Defines the Future of Small Business Software
For years, only large enterprises could afford systems that kept data in-house. Such systems usually quite pricey and require IT support.
Smaller businesses/teams had to depend on SaaS platforms, giving up on control in exchange for lower costs (not really) and convenience.
Benedict Corp. decided to change it.
With Microsoft Power Platform and tools like Benedict App, even small teams can have enterprise-level security and autonomy. They can manage their own data, workflows, and reporting - all without external hosting or additional risk.
The future of small business software is not about "more features," it is about control of your own data.
Conclusion: Trust starts with Ownership
Privacy is an ethical core of every trustworthy system.
When organizations understand and protect the value of their data - they build confidence.
In the end, privacy is not about hiding information, it is about ensuring that you decide what happens to it.
At Benedict Corp., privacy is a promise that your tools will respect your autonomy and your data will stay where it belongs - with you.
Learn more about Benedict App - Light here.
References
Asswad, Jad, and Jorge Marx Gómez. “Data Ownership: A Survey.” Information, vol. 12, no. 11, 10 Nov. 2021, p. 465, https://doi.org/10.3390/info12110465.
Charizanis, Gerasimos, et al. “Data-Driven Decision Support in SaaS Cloud-Based Service Models.” Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 12, 10 June 2025, p. 6508, www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/12/6508, https://doi.org/10.3390/app15126508.
Fadler, Martin, and Christine Legner. “Data Ownership Revisited: Clarifying Data Accountabilities in Times of Big Data and Analytics.” Journal of Business Analytics, vol. 5, no. 1, 4 Aug. 2021, pp. 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1080/2573234x.2021.1945961.
This article is produced by Benedict Corp. and is neither affiliated with, sponsored, nor endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft, SharePoint, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dataverse are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
The content of this article represents the personal and professional opinion of the author.
It is provided for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as business, legal, or technical advice.
Nothing in this publication should be viewed as a recommendation or a call to make specific decisions regarding software, privacy, or data management.