“midata” promises new era of consumer empowerment

Insurance companies were conspicuous by their absence at the launch of a new government scheme aimed at releasing volumes of personal data held by firms about consumers.

“midata” is a voluntary initiative instigated by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and aimed at giving consumers access to their personal data in a portable, electronic format.

Lloyds Banking Group and RBS are among the 26 organisations to have signed up, encouraged, no doubt, by their part-nationalised status.

However, businesses, consumer bodies and regulators are all involved, having endorsed the principle that consumers should be able to use their personal data to make more informed choices about products and services.

The scheme should also benefit the economy by stimulating innovation and growth and boosting competition between firms.

Businesses stand to benefit through improved dialogue with consumers, increased trust, and the opportunity to provide new personal information services and tools.

Launching the scheme, Consumer Affairs Minister, Edward Davey, said: “Currently, most consumer data is held by service providers, meaning only one side of the customer-business relationship is empowered with the tools of information management.”

He added: “The midata programme marks a non-regulatory approach to consumer empowerment and is in keeping with the Government’s broader focus on transparency and openness.”

The next step will include setting time lines and developing online “personal data inventories” (PDI) in each sector, which will describe the types of data an organisation holds about each customer.

Work is also ongoing with companies to develop common approaches that will allow customers to access their data including their contact details, current tariffs and contracts etc, and update their basic information.

The PDI and access work will precede the release of data back to customers, which should begin to take place in the first half of 2012.

The following principles guide the project:

1. Data that is released to customers will be in reusable, machine-readable form in an open standard format.

2. Consumers should be able to access, retrieve and store their data securely.

3. Consumers should be able to analyse, manipulate, integrate and share their data as they see fit – including participating in collaborative or group purchasing.

4. Standardisation of terminology, format and data sharing processes will be pursued as far as possible across sectors.

5. Once requested, data will be made available to customers as quickly as possible.

6. The focus will be to provide information or data that that may be actionable and useful in making a decision or in the course of a specific activity.

7. Organisations should not place any restrictions on or otherwise hinder the retention or reuse of data.

8. Organisations will work to increase awareness amongst consumers of the opportunities and responsibilities that arise from consumer data empowerment.

9. Organisations will provide customers with clear explanations of how the data was collected and what it represents, and who to consult if problems arise.

Tags: consumer data, midata, personal data

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