Outlined in a new Ovum report ‘Personal Data and the Big Trust Opportunity’, the industry analysts explain how with a hose-pipe of customer data, businesses are increasing their knowledge of users’ willingness to pay, leading to an increased risk of ‘creeping’ first-degree price discrimination and personalized offers that can negatively impact the customer’s wealth or personal economy. Customers aware of this exploitation become more concerned with their privacy, and with the transparency and control of their data. By adopting a Big Trust approach telcos can expose new opportunities to strengthen their core services and develop new trust-based services with the potential to generate incremental revenues.

“Big Trust principles recognize users’ ownership of their own data, aims to give them greater transparency and control over it, and puts people before analytics,” explains Mark Little, principal analyst at Ovum. “This becomes a foundation for new trust-based services such as personal data vaults that enable the repatriation of data from companies and government agencies. Customers get to see what ‘they’ve got on us’ and correct the data if it’s wrong. Customer control, verification and curation of their own data increases its quality making it more valuable to industry and to the customers themselves.”

According to Ovum’s research Big Trust has the potential to propel communications providers beyond the core services of voice and messaging, and into the consented communication of super-rich customer data and the broadcasting of their customer’s future intentions, a valuable new relationship for both parties.

“Such unparalleled synergy with the interests of the customer and commitment to being on their side could change the rules of the game in internet markets where players tend to be over-reliant on the “fracking” of personal data for their livelihoods. Injecting Big Trust DNA into the collection and use of personal data could protect the Big Data industry from the inevitable rise of customer-control,” concludes Little.