Articles describing the benefits of VRM in the retailing sector appeared in the March 2009 edition of Internet Retailing magazine which have only recently made the digital version available.
I have spent much of the last couple of months trying to drag my jaw off of the floor given wave after wave of revelations of hypocrisy, ineptitude, inefficiency, abuse and downright criminality spread across numerous large organisations, government and regulatory bodies.
Data to be collected and recorded by high street shops (Happy Snaps???).
Data collected, managed, updated and accessed by
you.
Data to be stored in a central National Identity Register
Database for the benefit of government to protect us against terrorism and immigration.
Data stored in your secure personal digital ‘safe deposit
box’ and shared under your control, with your consent, for your benefit.
Data can be made available to private organisations, without
your knowledge or consent, for a fee to government.
Data can be made available to private organisations
that you choose to have a relationship with for a fee to you.
Cost to you as an individual - £30
Cost to you as an individual - £0 plus various charged services which you may choose to use or not.
Your personal
information, let us be clear, belongs to you.
It defines who you are. It is valuable,
that is why it gets stolen, sold on and abused.
We want you to begin
benefitting from this value.
We want you to be
able to take back control and responsibility for your life.
We want to give you a
choice.
I have been addressing government and corporate audiences recently on the importance of Trust in their relationships with citizens, customers, patients etc. I find that the message gets accross immediately when I ask them to take off their 'corporate hats' and listen to what I am saying as a parent, an employee, a consumer. They then stop thinking of my 'Trust is the new Green' as a soft, warm and cuddly emotional marketing tactic and realise that this has a real measurable positive effect upon their Health, Wealth and Happiness and therefore your bottom line.
The global public relations firm Edelman recently published its 10th annual “Trust Barometer.” This survey indicates that 62 percent of the 4,500-plus global respondents trust corporations less this year than they did last year, based upon a survey conducted Nov. 5 to Dec. 14, 2008. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. respondents say they trust corporations less this year.
A recent survey of 1,200 people conducted by strategic brand consulting firm Siegel+Gale shows that trust in financial-services companies has dropped nearly 40 percent in the past year. Nearly two-thirds of those respondents also believe that businesses complicate their processes and communications in an attempt to mask real risks. This is a stunning indictment of the financial establishment.
To quiet some of the likely cynics out there, I offer you proof — both medical and financial. The giving away of trust stimulates the release of a bonding hormone called oxytocin in humans, according to research by the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the Center for Psychiatry & Psychotherapy at Justus-Liebig University in Germany. When released, oxytocin floods the brain with a feeling of well-being, and fear is reduced.
Trust pays dividends in the business world, too. A 2002 study of 350 buyer/supplier relationships among eight automakers in the U.S., Japan and South Korea identified a direct relationship between trust and transaction costs. The least-trusted buyer incurred procurement costs six times higher than the most-trusted. These additional costs came from the added resources that went into the selection, negotiation and compliance costs of executing deals.
You can read the complete article here I am now talking to organisations, public and private, about providing X-RM tools and services to provide their audience with a voice. Don't market at them but listen and respond! CRM has its place and VRM (Vendor Relationship Management) will address the consumer but the same principals apply in our roles as a Citizen, Employee, Patient, Student, etc. As I have said before, if you really want to regain Trust you need to start by trusting them.
Yet another example of the risks and dangers of your personal information sitting on up to 1,000 disparate data silos. Are you one of the 4.5 million whose personal details can 'be used by organised gangs to open fake bank accounts or take out loans in the names of unsuspecting customers'?
Would your 'cloud' look like my 'cloud'?
I have been working with Dr Ailsa
Kolsaker at the University of Surrey
Your assistance in contributing
to this research project and asking your friends and family to participate will be greatly appreciated.
Click here to access the survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9vOmJ2fEueSDpfOVOq5sag_3d_3d
(any problem then try ‘Copy & Paste’ into your
browser)
I couldn't resist sharing this with you!
'Today we mourn
the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many
years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long
ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated
such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to
come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always
fair; and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense
lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn)
and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His
health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing
regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual
harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using
mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student,
only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost
ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had
failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further
when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or
an Elastoplast to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became
pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost
the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became
businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common
Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your
own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense
finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a
steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was
promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was
preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his
daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4
stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm
A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If
you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do
nothing.'
And a little
extra. . .
Can you imagine
working for a company that has a little more than 600 Employees and has
the following statistics?
It's the 635 members of the House of Commons, the same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
Surely it can't be true!
I am advised by Paul (thanks) that this is a hoax - see his comment. Still, makes you think!
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