What strong vendor response looks like: Getting privacy, consent and data management right
As an EdTech vendor, you sit at the front line of trust. When a childcare centre, OSHC service, or school adopts your platform, families assume you are protecting their child’s information with the same care they would. But in reality, trust is shaped not only by your technology, but by how you respond when something goes wrong, especially when it comes to data storage, consent and incident handling.
In a nutshell, here’s what we believe strong, modern vendor practice looks like.
Build security into the core, not as an afterthought
Parents and educators today expect the bees’ knees when it comes to data management and security. They want to know that data is genuinely secure, i.e. that images aren’t sitting in open buckets, URLs aren’t guessable, access controls are strict, and staff don't have broad access without oversight.
If, as a vendor, you treat secure storage, deletion and access control as non-negotiable infrastructure (not nice-to-have upgrades) you’ll earn long-term trust from families and carers. And you avoid the reputational damage that comes from preventable exposures.
Consent isn’t just a checkbox; it’s a responsibility
Families deserve meaningful, informed consent. That means permissions that are clear, specific and separate. But it also demands something vendors often overlook: consent must be respected in the design of your product and in the processes of your organisation.
Design alone can’t carry the weight. If a parent declines photo use, the solution isn’t just to “not tag the child”. That leaves the image sitting in your system and may even still display it on other families’ timelines. It’ll still be stored somewhere in the cloud (hopefully securely). A strong platform prevents non-consented photos from being uploaded at all, blocks accidental uploads, and makes consent status obvious to educators. Now is the time to ditch legacy workarounds that leave data lingering where it shouldn’t be.
But respecting consent also depends on process. Vendors need internal workflows for removing or redacting images when consent is withdrawn, not just hiding them in the UI (or worse, not responding to such requests). Support teams need a clear escalation path for these requests and other concerns, such as accidental uploads. Staff need training on handling consent boundaries. And the organisation as a whole needs controls in place so that only necessary staff can browse or access sensitive information from children and their families.
In short, good consent is a whole-of-product responsibility. Vendors who understand that, and design for it, are already ahead of the market.
Incident response shapes trust
When something goes wrong (a leaked photograph, an API issue) parents and educators don’t expect perfection. They expect honesty, clarity and speed. A strong vendor responds quickly, names the issue plainly, explains the risk without minimising it, lays out the fixes in simple language, and learns from the experience.
If an incident or a breach is obvious to the outside world, messaging that says “no data breach occurred” erode confidence instantly. How you communicate matters as much as your technical fix.
Good communication isn’t a support ticket
Parents and educators shouldn’t need to fight through email threads with your anonymous, faceless support team to get answers about their children’s data. That model is outdated.
Instead, as a winning vendor, you:
have a clear privacy contact
respond with tailored, human explanations
publish meaningful FAQs
acknowledge concerns early, before escalation
communicate openly rather than defensively.
Being proactive about privacy, and being reachable, signals maturity. And it dramatically reduces frustration when issues appear.
Trust grows from what you do next
Strong systems, clear consent processes, proper deletion, fast transparency and open communication are what separate trustworthy vendors from those that families quietly avoid.
Nifty features and speed are vital components of great EdTech products. But it’s not the sole, winning combination. Add responsibility and proactiveness to the mix, and you’ll be the vendor that educators will recommend, and parents will feel safe trusting with their children’s digital footprint.
