Digital trust is an important and timely topic, especially for a leading IT-consulting company in Switzerland. The risks and likelihood of cyber-attacks, phishing, etc. will only continue to increase. However, digital trust is still only beginning to emerge as an overarching topic in the industry. Therefore, this thesis investigates the understanding and application of “Digital Trust” within the company and its customer base. Further, this study examines the maturity level regarding digital trust to derive potential gaps in maturity and to propose measures to improve it.

A thorough literature review was conducted to gather the necessary theoretical basis to provide a general definition for the term “Digital Trust” and to obtain a framework for how companies might measure digital trust. To answer the specified research question and to define these aspects for the IT-consulting company, we conducted a set of interviews among the employees, as well as a customer survey. The findings were then compiled and recommendations for the improvement of the maturity level were proposed, with additional recommendations for future research.

The main findings of the thesis include an appropriate definition for the term “Digital Trust” in general and within the company, providing an insight into the understanding and application of the term within the IT-consulting company and among its customers. Furthermore, we were able to provide an estimation of the maturity level and potential gaps concerning digital trust, as well as a set of measures the company might take to improve on this subject. The different measures were divided into the main aspects of people, processes, and technology, as well as the customer perspective. Proposed measures include the general promotion of awareness for the topic within the company and among its customers, knowledge spreading, providing support, as well as other specific internal process and technology related aspects. Lastly, based on the initial findings, this thesis includes recommendations for future internal and external research that the company might undertake to further improve on digital trust. Overall, the results of this thesis provide important and relevant insights for the IT-consulting company.