Method and system for privacy-protected execution of a workflow in a software application using encrypted inputs

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and a memory having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, performs an operation for invoking privacy-preserving execution of a workflow in a remotely hosted software application, the operation comprising:
• displaying a prompt for user input associated with items to be used in performing a step of a workflow in the remotely hosted software application;
• receiving user input for each of the items to be used in performing the step of the workflow;
• homomorphically encrypting the user input for the input data using an encryption key;
• transmitting, to an application server, the homomorphically encrypted user input and a request to perform the step of the workflow using the homomorphically encrypted user input;
• receiving, from the application server, a homomorphically encrypted result of the step of the workflow;
• decrypting the received homomorphically encrypted result using a decryption key associated with the encryption key;
• and displaying the result on a display coupled to the client device;
• and wherein the operation further comprises:
• generating key-value pairs for the items, each key-value pair including a label associated with a respective item of the items and a corresponding homomorphically encrypted user input, wherein the homomorphically encrypted user inputs comprise the generated key-value pairs.