Awareness of network security and customer value – The company and customer perspective

The COVID 19 pandemic, by forcing the need to establish and develop relationships via the network, has significantly accelerated the process of digital transformation. For most enterprises, this means the need to change their business model. The basis for each model is subjectively defined customer value. This value is both the input and output of the whole process of building sustainable and profitable relationships with customers. It is believed that in the environment dominated by modern technologies based on the use of the network potential, the value of these relationships reflected in the dually estimated customer value is linked to the awareness of the network potential and the ability to use it. On the basis of the analysis of the purchasing process in the e-commerce industry in Poland and the research, among others, carried out by banks and other scientific centers or institutions dealing with cybersecurity, it is demonstrated that the awareness of the network potential ought to be assessed not only through the prism of benefits that connect both parties with establishing and developing the relationship, but also threats arising from the need to use online mediated relationships. It is believed that the use of the potential of virtual space, in which the customer moves, is determined by the awareness of the network potential, the integral component of which is the awareness of security of establishing, maintaining, and developing relationships. This factor, being directly linked to the risk of the relationship, does and will have a significant impact on the process of creating customer relations in the future and thus the company's value.