Source: Shutterstock

To understand how this situation arises, we need to distinguish between data types: first- and second-party data, for example. Plus, we should examine the concept of zero-party data. To help us demarcate data types and explore the implications of the relationship between customer experience and data, we spoke to Glenn Gore, CEO of Affinidi. (Read about the Affinidi Trust Network here and here for background.)

Defining data

Zero-party data is preference-based or intent-based and is held by the individual to represent the different online versions of themselves. Those different versions could be categorised, for instance, as an individual who is, depending on the context, an employee, a gamer, a charity worker, and a fitness fanatic.

This is the type of information that may help determine broad preferences for interaction with companies and brands. For example, someone who identifies as female in their zero-party data could be shown a women’s clothing line by default when they land on a clothing website.

First-party data is the information gathered by an organisation when an individual interacts with them. That could be a list of foodstuffs bought at a store. What’s interesting, Mr Gore told us, is that zero and first-party data are sometimes contradictory.

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He said: “I say that I don’t want to eat sugary products; that’s zero-party data. But my shopping history says that’s an outright lie because I buy chocolate and fruit juice all the time! So now you can start seeing something really fascinating.”

In that context, a brand could show a message at checkout offering alternative, low-sugar products. That might lower their revenues, assuming diet alternatives are cheaper, but it would be a better customer experience and a net gain for the relationship.

Second-party data is information that’s shared, with approval, between the first party and another. “Let’s say I’ve engaged with a nutritionist and I’ve decided to help with the nutritional accuracy,” said Mr Gore. “I share what I buy at the supermarket. So, that data from the grocery store, which is first-party data, is shared with my new nutritionist.

“The difference here is that it’s with my consent, my knowledge. Nothing else is going to be shipped. The grocery store is not going to share the videotapes of how long I stood staring at the chocolates even though I didn’t buy any.”

Third-party data is the type of information that is collected and often sold and is “kind of the one that gets everyone in trouble.”

Mr Gore said: “This is where data that’s been collected about myself is aggregated with lots of other data sets combined and then sold without my consent, without my knowledge. To stay with that same example, my nutritionist says, ‘Well done, Glenn, you’re buying kale, you’re eating lots of healthy things. But I see that you’re not going to the gym?’ How do you know I’m not going to the gym? I never gave you access to my gym membership! I’m not going to be very happy about that. That’s the invasion of privacy that occurs.”

As awareness of data privacy among consumers grows and increasingly strict laws about data governance fall into place, third-party data not only begins to look less attractive as a concept for the individuals it’s describing but as a potential destroyer of trust and, therefore, customer experience. It’s also a burden of responsibility on organisations that hold it, as it also represents an attractive target for bad actors and legislators.

Consenting data exchange

The key to better customer experiences, and ones that are truly personalised, is the combination of zero and first-party data, which combines intent with action. Then, multiple second-party data instances form a network of consensual data sharing, building mutual trust between the consumer and other organisations.

Mr Gore sees the future of what we now call the ‘data economy’ as one where consumers can join or create their own versions of trust networks, parties with whom they consensually share and receive value in return.

The Affinidi Trust Network is the system that Affinidi is building, comprising a “duality of innovation, the two sides of the same coin.” Developers can already build the components of the Trust Network into vendors’ and service-creators’ offerings. For end-users, the arbiters of their own data, Mr Gore envisages services that will help with the minutiae of zero-party data interactions.

“They will be custodial hub managers of your data,” he said. “These custodial holders who manage how you represent and manage yourself will help you do this on your behalf. That app will be driven by a personal AI capable of sifting the many digital interactions that take place online for each user every day and remove much of the detail of personal data management which is cumbersome.

“You don’t want to wake up every morning with an app saying, ‘We just found another 60 pieces of information about yourself out there on the internet. Do you mind just cataloging those 60?’ Personal AIs will help you with cataloging on your behalf.

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“The worst they may do is to ask about instances where there’s some conflict resolution needed. For example, ‘I’ve automatically organised these 180 different things for you, but these two look like they’re in conflict’, or ‘I know that you might be in the process of changing how you think about this. Can you just help guide me?'”

As personal data privacy issues accelerate and big tech companies work actively to discourage privacy-focused tools – Google’s intended ban on Chrome ad-blockers later this year is a fine example – solutions like the Affinidi Trust Network and the concept of Holistic Identity make increasing sense.

Consumers don’t have to subscribe to every aspect of Rana Foroohar’s ‘Don’t Be Evil‘ to feel that information about them is being misused. That’s already apparent in so-called customer experience platforms that present personalised interactions that are too all-knowing. Representations of prospects and customers derived from bought, aggregated third-party data produce ‘personalisation’ that’s inaccurate because every individual presents multiple versions of themselves online according to context.

Allowing individual users to consensually share relevant information with trusted organisations and brands is the way to build a relationship and establish trust. Those are the relationships that will endure and will produce long-term results for commercial entities. The move to consensual (and profitable) provision of customer experiences begins with becoming part of the Affinidi Trust Network, and you can read more here.

The post Data ownership and control at the heart of tomorrow’s CX appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

There’s a fine balance to be found between a basic message, “You’ve bought X from us before, you may like Y,” and, “You’ve Tweeted about needing product Y; would you like to buy it?”. The former approach may be less personal but fails to differentiate a brand from a dozen alternatives; the latter could be perceived as ‘creepy’ or invasive.

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The customer experience balancing act

There’s no perfect balance point at which a brand can position CX (customer experience) based on the information it has about any customer, as each one will differ regarding what they consider to be bland/impersonal and perceptive/invasive. Any company with more than a dozen well-known customers will always wrong-foot itself with many customers and prospects, making CX a hit-or-miss exercise at best.

The answer is to allow customers to dictate exactly what information about themselves they wish to share with any organisation with whom they interact. Like in the initial stages of a human-to-human relationship, the exchange of information may be low-key: a ‘customer’ may offer their age but not date of birth; they may state which city they live in but not their address.

As the relationship progresses and trust develops, more detail can be offered. In business terms, that presents a problem. An online order for goods, for example, requires certain verifications, especially around identity (KYC), financial transactions (anti-fraud), and geography (delivery address, for example). Customers are expected to take a leap of faith early in the relationship with a brand, providing information that they can only hope will not be misused, poorly guarded, or monetised without their agreement.

That means many relationships between individuals and organisations begin on the back foot, and a real bond of trust between the parties – one that is to both of their advantages – takes much longer than it should to develop.

Keeping trust safe

Commercial companies and public-sector organisations are also responsible for keeping the data they gather securely and within statutory boundaries. High-profile hacks and accidental data leaks have undermined consumer and business confidence, straining the fragile bonds of trust essential for interactions and trade between organisations and their clients.

For business professionals developing more personalised CX, the challenge is in balancing the desire for in-depth customer information with a responsibility to protect sensitive data and maintain trust. Both sides of the practical data conundrum present their own challenges.

Empowering trust with Affinidi

This is where Affinidi steps in, bridging the gap between personal data security and customer experience. Affinidi produces a suite of products that together make the Affinidi Trust Network. It’s a market-changing solution that places data ownership with the end-users or customers, who are free to discover, collect, store, share, and even monetise specific information with anyone, including organisations with whom they interact.

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From that cornerstone concept, issues around trust, data sovereignty, security, and privacy are solved. And there are other benefits, including the building of trust; the foundation on which CX is constructed.

Affinidi’s concept of Holistic Identity Management means that end users are in control of their data and have a 360-degree view of their digital selves. End users or customers have the power to share any information they wish in accordance with their preferences.

The business gets rock-solid assurance of a customer’s identity, their payment method, and criteria necessary to trade (a customer’s age or country of residence might be issues, for example). This process takes place without the brand ever seeing or possessing information the customer does not feel confident sharing, data that would typically have had to have been encrypted, stored, and protected by the organisation.

Both sides of the relationship can rely on the authenticity of the data as information exchange is always with a user’s explicit consent. With approved data shared by their customers or prospects, companies can query these decentralised, encrypted, and assured data resources.

Develop and trust

Affinidi leverages open standards, Open ID Connect (OIDC) and uses decentralised identity management technologies such as OpenID for Verifiable Presentations (OIDC4VP), Verifiable Credentials (VC), and Presentation Exchange (PEX). These decentralised identity management solutions enable versatile applications ranging from single sign-on in corporations to complex procedures in e-commerce, healthcare, and more. The approach grants individuals and end users’ greater control of their data, ensuring security and verifiability across different systems.

The implementation of these technologies offers a secure, privacy- and user-centric solution for digital identity management. During the COVID pandemic, these solutions were used to verify the vaccination status of travelers at border crossings in Singapore without intrusive, privacy-invasive information gathering.

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Holistic Identity is discussed in more depth on these pages, here, but to summarise, the concept means a brand will no longer have to rely on fragmented and disparate representations of an individual drawn from multiple sources. Instead of having to rely on tracking cookies, metadata, or behavioral guesswork, companies develop a true picture of their customers, formed of information the customer willingly gives or consented to.

That allows the building of truly personalised customer experiences based on consented driven data from users and not privacy intrusive or unconsented surveillance data collected from the web/internet.

We’ll explore some of the other products of the Affinidi Trust Network in future articles, like Affinidi Concierge, a personalised AI to optimise data management, Affinidi Connector, to integrate multiple data sources, Affinidi Messaging, and Affinidi Login for passwordless authentication and more.

Check back soon for more details, but if what you’ve read so far has sparked your interest, head over to this page to read on.

The post Personalisation or privacy invasion? Striking the perfect balance in customer engagement appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

From a consumer’s point of view, and that is each one of us, our personas exist in multiple forms. We’re buyers of goods, gamers, patients at the local hospital, service users, and thousands more ‘personalities.’ Yet, we have little control over those personas beyond choosing whether or not to give away an email address or date of birth. Our data is held by thousands of third parties, and with better control of it, we’d be happier if we could share more (or less) with the people or organizations we trust (or distrust).

In commercial settings, access to data about people and things with which we have no direct dealings is either difficult or expensive to obtain – or in some cases, both. Yet, a great deal of information could be consumed by, for example, a startup business with the consent of its owners as long as the sharing was a) was consensual and within limits set by the owner, b) safe from being compromised for both parties, and c) within the laws of data governance. If we, as individuals or decision-makers in businesses, had direct control over the data under our jurisdiction, we could gain control over our identities and be able to share to any degree we felt fitting with whomever we choose. The data granted to others would be essentially crafted by us—which would mean no more misrepresentations of a person or thing because of incomplete, stolen, or misrepresented data.

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Solving the twin quandaries of ownership over one’s own data or persona, and controlling data dissemination, is the goal behind the Affinidi Trust Network, as we covered in a recent article on Tech Wire Asia. To tease out more details about the thinking behind the Affinidi Trust Network and the concept of Holistic Identity, we spoke exclusively to Glenn Gore, the CEO of Affinidi. You may not have heard of the Affinidi Trust Network yet, but that’s deliberate, according to Mr Gore.

“The reason why we’re starting off slow is that we want to get the basics right so that we’re not facing unintended consequences of what is a very new technological approach,” he said. “The second aspect is the security model around this. We want to take the time to truly understand how to protect the individual. To be honest, if your bank gets hacked, it’s protected, right? Your bank has insurance and regulation around it.

“But if you now have full ownership of all your information, all your data, and you get hacked, who’s going to help you? That’s where we believe there’s still a lot of innovation, development, and deep thinking needed. How do we best protect that? How do you manage your health data and your financial data? You probably don’t want to share that data with a gaming site or an e-commerce site. It’s very complex to expose that in a way that is understandable by 99% of us mere mortals on the planet.”

Convincing all those mere mortals of the veracity and benefits of the Affinidi Trust Network involves winning over two key entities with significant influence: software developers and consumers. For developers, the Affinidi Trust Network offers a suite of tools that is remarkably simple to implement. With just a few lines of code, they can construct privacy-preserving applications. Meanwhile, consumers gain the power to discover, collect, store, share, and even monetize their own data based on individual preferences through an Affinidi Vault. The validation of data and identity by owners and users contributes to the creation of an end-to-end trusted data network. This, in turn, fosters a privacy-preserving and enriched data exchange.

For a business owner or startup visionary, the Affinidi Trust Network is “a modern next-generation identity layer within your business that allows you access to data beyond just your direct customers, and understand your consumers in a more authentic way, going beyond the what [the customers] are doing, into the why,” according to Mr Gore.

“That is the critical change: when I [as an individual] can express, from myself, the reason why I’m visiting Nike.com, because I’m into long distance running. So don’t show me basketball gear [on the home page]; show me the best beginner running shoes right now, straightaway. The first impression [I get] of that site is far, far better.”

Trust is a challenging concept to articulate, particularly within the dynamic relationship between a consumer and a brand—it’s a circular arrangement. When a consumer trusts a brand, they willingly share more information, allowing the brand to cultivate a deeper relationship with the individual. Thanks to the implementation of the Affinidi Trust Network and its assurance of authenticity, customers enjoy an enhanced experience, leading to a gradual sharing of more insightful information over time.

However, in the current landscape of online interactions, the scenario is less favorable, as Mr Gore pointed out. “At present, brands are attempting to gather insights about customers through surveillance techniques. They’re delving into ‘What is John Doe doing, and what information can I acquire about him?’ This practice is increasingly restricted, which is a positive development. But how do we shift the paradigm of data ownership? By allowing individuals to say, ‘I appreciate Nike, and I’m willing to share my running stats, Garmin smart data, and more if it means getting discounts or better shoe recommendations. Why not?’”

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The last crucial piece of the puzzle, one on which Affinidi is diligently working, involves creating consumer tools to access and navigate the Affinidi Trust Network. Mr Gore acknowledges that, for the average user, “the user experience has to work like magic.” This is because, beneath the surface, intricate processes such as encryption, authentication, distribution, security, and reliability are at play.

Consumers also need to understand the advantages and how being part of the Affinidi Trust Network significantly improves their situation compared to the current landscape, where data is often misrepresented or compromised.

Mr Gore said: “We need to communicate directly with consumers, encouraging them to join the revolution of reclaiming their data, identity, and self-representation. We have to do this simultaneously because, in this dual marketplace, there’s no point in building this infrastructure if there are no consumers to use it. Conversely, consumers won’t use it if there are no businesses to interact with. Both sides need to grow simultaneously.”

Affinidi serves as a disruptor by effectively demonetizing data, placing data management in the hands of the data’s owners, and providing a user-friendly platform that grants data veracity, authenticity, and sovereignty to anyone and everyone.

Mr Gore said: “The network could be valued at a trillion dollars. But Affinidi itself might only be a small part of that greater network, one that was an enabler within it. We want others to build, [and] assist others who come and say, ‘Hey, we could do this part better.’

“The pace of innovation will be measured by the community that builds with us, not against us. Not Affinidi on its own. It’s the community-based approach or the network-based approach.”

You can read more about the Affinidi Trust Network and the concept of Holistic Identity here, and for software developers interested in how the Affinidi Trust Network can be accessed and built into any project, head over to the documentation.

The post Challenging Big Tech data owners: The contemporary disruptor appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

There are dozens, if not thousands, of our identities online. Every service we register with, every post, purchase, opinion and decision made helps create multiple representations of ourselves. Some we may think we directly control, such as personal blogs or social media profiles. But once elements of our identity are online, they can be scraped, parsed, re-assembled, and represented by any party with access to fairly simple technology. Uses of these personas can vary from benign (medical records or marketing preferences, for example) to completely malign (identity theft, impersonation, and account compromise).

Because of data availability, we can never be 100 per cent sure that information concerning us is secure, private or adequately anonymised. Additionally, we are only ever partially represented in these many different forms, so any view of our identity is fragmented, making it difficult to judge the veracity of any version of ourselves online. That lack of guarantees means, as individuals, we have no control over how data is used or how we are represented. As well as not being able to verify an identity’s integrity, we cannot monetise information we approve for wider consumption, and there is no way of presenting a canonical version of our identity.

The vendor’s tale

For organisations that offer goods or services online, uncertainties around the authenticity of fragmented customer data make authentication difficult. Digital records of, for instance, our purchase histories, membership to particular groups or any other facet of online identity are difficult to cross-check and rely on.

Authenticating new users seeking a driver’s license or passport is complex, expensive and resource-intensive to maintain. Plus, user-led authentication continues to rely on spoof-able credentials, a situation exacerbated by poor password choices and generally a poor standard of online hygiene.

A sovereignty of one

As individuals, we have little sovereignty over identity data, but that may be set to change. The concept of a Holistic Identity, managed by the individual, promises to return stewardship of our identity. Rather than the potential of every online interaction giving away information that can be misconstrued or misused, an open, standards-based, decentralised version of ourselves that we self-manage reverses the flow of information.

A digital Holistic Identity has many advantages. Onboarding new services becomes a matter of authentication without needing a password or email confirmation. Consumers can choose what data they wish to publicise and, therefore, monetise. Service providers, from SaaS platforms to the local gym, will be able to verify an individual and request only the information they truly need to function. In fact, any communication or transaction can be verified and encrypted end-to-end. From one-to-one messaging to driver’s license applications, encrypted data exchange becomes possible from individual data repositories that are widely distributed and, therefore, massively redundant.

Joining the dots

The creation of a trusted network built on holistic identities is the vision of Affinidi. The Affinidi Trust Network empowers developers to integrate data from multiple authoritative sources, ensures the integrity of data custody, and enables individuals to provide consent for data sharing while verifying identities of all parties involved. The ultimate goal is to establish end-to-end trust in data, fostering a privacy-preserving and enriching data exchange experience while aligning to user’s preferences and values in a privacy-enabled, consent-driven manner. From browsing history and preferences in coffee brands to payment card details and state-verified passports, the individual, not the requester, dictates the availability of any or all data.

The Affinidi Trust Network and Holistic Identity concept offer a broader scope and more user-friendly implementation. They enable software developers to construct vital zero-knowledge proof-based authentication mechanisms and help establish data governance policies. With a distributed authority, the risk of identity or data compromise is minimised.

The Holistic Identity solution is already well underway. You can read more information from the organisation behind the initiative or head to the Affinidi Developer page, where developers can start integrating and building projects. Watch this space for a deeper exploration of the Affinidi Trust Network on these pages in the coming weeks.

The post Holistic Identity: A new paradigm in digital self-representation appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.