When it comes to personal information, the dominant trend of the last few decades has been corporate control: companies have gathered and used personal information, treating it as a corporate asset to further the corporation’s purposes.
Yet dominant organisational approaches to the acquisition, ownership and use of personal data are hitting inherent relationship and structural limits and may even now be facing diminishing returns. The problem? Many different organisations collecting many different slices of information about the same individual can never really develop a ‘single view’ of this customer (few are rarely able to develop a single view of their own organisation...)
Ultimately the only entity capable of ensuring ‘a single customer view’ is the customer himself! So while organisations focus all their efforts on extending and deepening their ownership and control of personal data, there is surely a significant opportunity for firms to help individuals collect and manage their own data - in effect, by operating "Personal Knowledge Banks".
A prescient new discussion paper from the UK Buyer-Centric Commerce Forum (disclosure - I am on the Steering Group) argues the case for Personal Knowledge Banks. It defines and develops the opportunity and suggests that over time, the data available within Personal Knowledge Banks will grow richer, deeper and more accurate than the data held within organisations.
I have long been an advocate of the personal infomediary concept, ever since Hagel and Singer articulated the case back in the late 90's (see their book, Net Worth). I was even involved in setting-up the UK's first infomediary solutions provider, Conciera, back in 2000. So I am bound to agree that Personal Knowledge Banks represent a huge new market with the potential to transform the relationship between individuals and organisations and the ways organisations collect, manage and use data. At the same time, they address a wide range of privacy and data protection issues.
As the paper suggests:
Organisations that help place the power of personal data in the hands of individuals will be offering them a great and valued service – while potentially playing the pivotal role of ‘interface manager’ in a fast-changing commercial landscape. Personal Knowledge Banks raise many technical, legal, database management and relationship management issues. These hurdles can and will be addressed. But to facilitate this, we need to encourage the sharing of ideas and emerging ‘best practice’, and to explore new business models.
So to get the ball rolling again, the BCCF is making the paper available to anyone with an interest in the concept and opportunity. If you would like to receive a copy of "Personal Knowledge Banks - Putting the power of personal data in the hands of individuals", please email me at info@theomcgroup.com. If you have any ideas or feedback, I will share them with the BCCF.
The BCCF is also having a networking event on the topic, to be held in London at the end of May/June. Let me know if you are interested in receiving further details.
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