Every good relationship takes a lot of “woo-ing” and as I’ve been chasing the Data Discoveries business for well over a year, we believe this union will be a great one.  My first advances were perhaps misunderstood (...was I a serious suitor, or just an opportunistic one...) –  but patience and  persistence plus regular opportunities to meet just confirmed that we’ve got a lot in common and that we ought to make that important next step...

We first were attracted to Data Discoveries as a result of their customer feedback and market reputation.  It was pretty clear that their customers were very loyal and the products and services deployed were well regarded.  We also discovered in the dialogues we had that the cultures and objectives of our businesses were also very well aligned.

At GB Group we’re taking our Tracing business very seriously, with some unique products and a strong and growing reputation in the market.  The addition of the Data Discoveries products and customers to the GB family helps confirm us as the market leader in tracing software, but crucially it also adds product vision and development skills to the business to help drive this business even faster.  Data Discoveries also brings us customers and competences in the identity related marketing products and services that underpin much of GB Group’s traditional strengths.

So, this posting is another strand of our welcome to GB Group for the people and customers of Data Discoveries. 

I know the newly combined team all share a common passion to ensure we are the natural partner for customers who are looking to use our services to REALLY understand the identity of their customers.   If every advance I make of this type takes a year, however, I think I’ll give the on line dating companies a wide berth...

Nick

We’re all fans of Captain Jack at my house. That’s not the dashing leader of the Torchwood spin –off, but Johnny Depp’s cavalier Pirate of the Caribbean. This suggests, rightly, that viewing habits in my house are tailored to the identity characteristics of my two teenage daughters - with Keira Knightley thrown in to keep my interest (as a social study in the role of the feminist in the 18th century of course...)

Depp’s definition of on-boarding would involve a cunning and opportunistic raid on a treasure laden ship - but in our struggling economy on-boarding is taking on a new meaning, becoming an increasingly important aspect of sales growth for the modern consumer facing business.

Businesses all need to launch new products, often through new channels, and all talk the mantra about attracting new customers and increasing share of wallet. The reality today, however, is a business development team launching a new product or service will have IT resource constraints, legacy systems to change, time to market demands, limited budgets and probably a conservative attitude to risk from senior management.

In these conditions, outsourcing of services becomes a serious option for businesses which need to stay agile and want to align costs with the benefits they derive. The traditional outsourcers, however, can be as ponderous around process, system change and timescales as some of the customers they serve.

The delivery of an effective on-boarding service requires more than just IT expertise. It’s about designing micro-sites that attract and retain visitors, it’s about easy customer validation and authentication processes that make customers sign up (and weed out the fraudsters) and it’s about the relevance and quality of the communication process in those first 90 days. Customer experience is king in the on-line World.

GB Group now finds itself in a unique position. We’ve got 20 plus years experience in validating customer sign up processes, we host data, we provide managed marketing services, we integrate ID check s into client business applications. We also have an agile approach to delivery of services which has meant that, for some clients, we’ve been able to deploy solutions in literally years less than internal IT or our competitors.

So customer on-boarding isn’t a market opportunity for pirates, but it’s probably not one for the established outsourcers or ponderous marketing services providers either. Businesses need fast time to market, and customers need intuitive, easy to use web sites to find, navigate and buy from. This is GB Group’s expertise, building on our deep understanding of how to use identity characteristics to improve the sales and marketing capability of our clients. Businesses seeking help to build an end to end customer take-on service will find GB Group a very capable partner...

Nick

They’re not shy for a bit of publicity this new Government. Not content with targeting 40% spending cuts in public services and taking free school milk away (those under 5’s won’t be voting for years!) we’re back on the benefits fraud trail again. It’s an obvious target really and one that a succession of Governments have tried to tackle. The difference here is that for the first time Government is acknowledging the role of tracking financial transactions in identifying potential fraud by an individual. Now this is not a completely new initiative - credit data has been used by Central and Local Government for a while, to help identify potential fraud around benefits such as the single person council tax discount or housing benefit claims.

The difference, however, sounds like a much more co-ordinated use of credit file transaction data by the DWP to identify potential fraudsters, together with a risk reward model to encourage potential suppliers with the resource to be involved with the collection process too. The latter point of course limits the number of potential suppliers to, well, Experian really! It will be interesting to see what benefits being a “bounty hunter” does to their consumer friendly “let us check your credit report” image. Sometimes you need to be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you! I also wonder whether the DWP are completely happy with so much hype by Experian regarding their involvement in these projects. Have they been officially appointed without a formal procurement process? Time will tell.

However, there is still much less avaricious companies can do to help Government fight fraud and it’s not just data from the credit file that helps. GB Group has been helping Local Government identify properties missing from the Council Tax register, for example, to help ensure that a fair level of tax is collected for properties they serve.

As my colleague Paul Fox observes, the real savings will come from the work around prevention of error in the processes and data management in the DWP. Fraud prevention is the emotive “headline grabber” for an Experian, but GB Group is all about helping get the data right up front and simplifying the process of proof of identity of the claimant before they access a benefit. This also of course will make it easier for the deserving to receive the benefits they need.

We’re all up for some good PR and benefits fraud is a good headline grabber. Well done Experian for getting more out of the headlines than David Cameron! The hard yards for the Government, DWP and its suppliers, however, will be reaching beyond the management of existing fraud and get the upfront processes right to prevent it happening in the first place. This is where GB Group and the serious players can really help. Let’s hope that once the headline grabbers have settled down we can all help Ian Duncan Smith with the real savings offered by making the process of claiming benefits simple and accurate in the first place.

Then we can all worry about Experian interrogating our spending habits without our permission...

Nick

It was strangely disturbing to read that Martha Lane Fox is going to get us all on-line by 2015.  My daughter was really non-plussed by this as she is on-line all the time – and quarter past eight is when she gets up to make her 8.30AM college classes.  My mum, however, is waging a single woman war against  the Internet.  Why shop on line when you can stand in a cold bus queue for an hour, pursuing a packet of sausages with the same grizzly determination that was once a feature of our hunter gatherer ancestors.

My generation stands neatly in the middle of this culture and technology clash.  I can’t understand how my daughter can operate three internet devices simultaneously – or indeed why she wants to.  Equally I am frustrated by my mother’s obstinate refusal to stop writing letters that need stamps or engage with technology that would help her in so many routine tasks.  Now my mother likes a cause and doesn’t like to lose.  I remember when the last - or last but one - Government tried to take her pension book away.   The idea of course was that the Department of Social Security (at the time, DWP now) and the Post Office would finally embrace the inevitable and instead of printing very expensive and easy to defraud pension books they would pay benefits straight into your bank account.    My mother would have none of this and campaigned (yes, in writing, with stamps) to maintain her right to a pension book.  She was quite infirm at the time, so she couldn’t actually collect the pension using the book and so I would have to grab some time from work,  go and queue at the Post Office, take the money out – and, yes, cross the road to pay it into her bank.  Looking back on this now she was either a passionate defender of the right to choose - or she really didn’t like me very much.

So Martha, you might think your challenge is trying to get BT or whoever to lay thousands of miles of thicker cable, but your real battle will be to make the internet easier to use.  This isn’t just about clicking on the internet explorer icon, it’s about the complexity and time it takes to register for services (anyone ever forgotten their 128 character HMRC log-on – only about 10 million or so of us on March 30th), filling in on-line forms, proving identity and working out which bit of information will be needed by which service provider.  It’s not so much Big Brother watching you, as the whole House and Davina McCall too.   Press the wrong key too many times and you get evicted...

At GB we’re pioneering the use of on-line identity tokens and working to make the process of accessing services across the internet easier.  We can see the value of the “single sign on” process but this time outside the enterprise IT environment.   This will allow citizens to choose what services to access, what information to share and will not need them to constantly repeat the registration process as they cross between booking a refuse collection with your local authority, paying your TV license or shopping for exotic holidays.  This is going to make the process of transacting online safer, easier and transfer more control to the citizen.

Martha, if my mother is to use the internet to order services she will need a clear incentive and the process will need to be simple.  Otherwise these silver not-quite-yet surfers will be collecting their stamps and will be out to write to you.  With pens.  And ink.  These are dangerous adversaries and they fight dirty.  Good luck.

Nick

It’s along way to work for me. Oxfordshire B roads, M40, M42, Toll Road, M6, M56, M53, A55 and a trip through the Chester Business Park…this is not a journey at the end of which you want to discover you’ve left your Company ID pass behind…

Through our security gate, pass and picture ready, quick cup of coffee (fresh, not machine, so I don’t need to remember the code) and then the blissful wait for Microsoft to grudgingly acknowledge your identity credentials at log in and deliver the morning email.

Security is vital to us at GB and we take the responsibility we have to manage the customer and individual identity data incredibly seriously, but by God, it can cramp your style. We have processes for system access, processes for view, rules for deletion, compliance for suppliers, guidelines for access for cleaners, shredders that could be used to invade Poland… and a regular stream of security audits from data partners like BT and Royal Mail as well as customers from all walks of industry. As we’re one of the few companies that have completed ISO27001 for Information Security, we are able to share best practise with some very large clients and partners.

So, all this increased security is part and parcel of our corporate world now. I remember the publicity associated with the data loss at HMRC two years ago and a trail of lost data file stories that followed it. At GB we hold and consolidate data that individuals, suppliers and customers trust us to manage and we simply can’t fail in this duty. However, across the very small digital divide Google is gathering data on individuals that isn’t consented. Young people are presenting details relating to their true identity on Facebook that their parents don’t know. Amazon is trying to sell you books based on the profile of that Mills & Boon romance you bought your granny last year…

We’ve all got along way to go to understand how we as individuals also keep ourselves both safe and properly represented in our digital identities. This is an area where control will increasingly pass to the individual. We’ll see progress in this transition with emerging technologies like OpenID or the iCard and at GB we’re looking to be at the forefront of the progress to personal identity management. The “winning technology” hasn’t emerged yet, but we are seeing small projects and pilots that will drive the transition towards a world where the consumer manages what data he or she releases to what organisation. That will be a challenge for the marketing departments of the future!

In the meantime, GB is a company you can trust to look after your data…and if you need to know anything about the M6, I’m your man!

Nick

The recent release of the Combined Online Information System (COINS) database on public spending sees the new Coalition Government join the data “gold rush”.
 
Publication of Government data has proliferated through the EU over the last few months, with the UK component perhaps prompted by the debacle surrounding the publication of MP’s expense claims last year.  As a result of detailed interpretation of this data by the Daily Telegraph we now know how much it costs to clean a moat and how to “flip” properties to avoid Capital Gains Tax.  However, we did need to rely on Telegraph journalists spending months wading through complex information to draw out the worst abuses.  This information finally gave the public a real insight into the behavioural identity of our MPs….and led to a fundamental shift in the trust we have in our politicians.

The recent release of the COINS data is posing similar challenges and opportunities.  Some of the headlines are being grabbed by early analysis - £1.8Bn spent on consultants comes to mind, together with £100M on swine flu prevention!  Mmm, didn’t seem to help me last winter…

However, the early extracts of this data seem to raise more questions than answers and what is becoming clearer is that this game is all about what you do with the data, rather how much you have…

Back in the Californian gold rush, speculators were pegging claims and digging for gold…but the real businesses that endured were the apocryphal shovel suppliers, clothing manufacturers and the infrastructure suppliers that developed around the – occasional – gold finds.

So, as all this new data surfaces, is the real opportunity here one of deploying traditional skills from companies – and individuals – who really know what to do with this identity data.  We might see the coalition try and take more control by partnering with providers of data analysis, but I suspect the real winners will be the journalists, bloggers and independent commentators who will interpret data in their own manner, together with those companies with core skills in identity and data management.

As one of the latter companies, we at GB need to make sure we act responsibly and impartially as we work with this information.  However, the trend to more and more open data makes the skills we have in identity management and analysis more relevant than ever.  We might only be in the shovel business, but you can’t bring that gold up without us…

It’s Sunday, and as I’m supervising my daughter’s revision session I’m also taking some time to catch up on some on line gossip…and find myself reading the Mail Online and its headline story on how BT is using “secret software” to monitor social networking sites, allegedly “spying” on Facebook users looking for disgruntled customers.

This technology is nothing new to our colleagues in the Marketing Services team.  We have tested Alterian’s product, SM2, which also monitors social networking sites and which provides a commentary on what’s being said on on-line regarding the image and reputation of major brands. 

The Mail’s position is that this is all “Big Brother” stuff.  Simon Davies of Privacy International is always good for a quote in these situations, and here he says it’s “morally wrong” for companies like BT to monitor social networks and listening in to what’s being said about them.

This of course panders to the conspiracy theorists who raise concerns about abuse of the data that individuals make available on the internet.  However, it would appear that many companies “listening” online are only using this information to improve their services.  

I remember reading that Dell had listened to online criticism of its customer service and had contacted frustrated customers who then contributed to the design an improved service model.  The article on BT was based on direct contact to disgruntled customers to resolve problems.  Famously, at the moment, Steve Jobs at Apple appears to be personally responding to individual emails he receives in the ultimate online dialogue.  None of these are my favourite brands, but at least they are looking for ways to improve their responsiveness to customer feedback.

Maybe the real issue here is one of a right to two way communication. Why should individuals have the right to use social networking sites to air their views, but not to let the objects of this criticism have a right of reply?  If you criticise a Company on-line it seems to me to be reasonable that they listen and try and remedy the issue? 

Social media, blogs, twitter and other online broadcast mechanisms are changing the way we communicate and post opinion – but it can’t be just one way.  However, perhaps the Mail Online is using an older adage in posting these scare stories – bad news travels fast(est…)

As more of our clients employ us to improve their identity management processes, we’ve found some new life in one of our old product offers

GB was one of the first companies to bring to market  address lookup software, based on the UK postcode file.  This was a relatively simple offer: marketing departments understood that accurate addressing was vital to reduce mailing costs and improve customer service, and companies like GB could deliver the data in an efficient way and also keep it (relatively) up to date

The move to electronic commerce and new marketing channels has changed the rules here. Whilst the postal address is still important, marketers have understood that email and SMS communications, if highly personalised, make more sense economically and are appreciated by many consumers. GB had already moved its address management product online, as it allowed clients to receive real time updates of new data, and it also made integration into their own IT systems quicker. It’s been a relatively simple step from there to also provide capture and validation of other key identity information that is critical to business processes - email, telephone and mobile numbers or customer preference data.

GB’s historical expertise in address management has therefore been extended to the complete customer registration process. This is really the start of the Identity Management journey: getting customer information right at the initial point of contact, whether via the web, call centre, or retail site, really is best practise. GB can help ensure that our customers can respond to their customers’ preferences and ensure that all the data you capture, is accurate, current and valuable.

After all, why not start your customers' journey with the right map!