Today, Scottish Power becomes the first company to start releasing data back to customers as part of the midata programme.  Midata is a UK Government-backed initiative to encourage companies to release data back to customers in a portable electronic format so they can use this data for their own purposes. Ctrl-Shift is advising the Department of Business on midata.

We spoke to Andrew Ward, Operations Director at Scottish Power, about its involvement in midata.

What are you doing?

We are releasing customer consumption histories in an electronic format, so they can take their own information to find the…

About a year ago, the World Economic Forum produced a report talking about personal data as 'a new asset class'. Some said it is 'the new oil' energising and greasing the wheels of the information age. But personal data isn't a traditional asset like oil in two critical respects.

First, when we collect, refine, process and use oil it has no feelings about that matter. But personal data - which is about persons - is different. Persons care about how their data is collected, refined and used and by whom. They want to have a say in the matter.

Second, the 'asset'…

“Customer power will be personal, not just collective. Each customer will come to market equipped with his or her own means for collecting and storing personal data, expressing demand, making choices, setting preferences, proffering terms of engagement, offering payments, and participating in relationships - whether those relationships are shallow or deep, and whether they last for moments or years. Those means will be standardised. No vendor will control them.”

This paragraph sums up the subject matter of Doc Searls' new book The Intention Economy - and the trend towards 'VRM' or Vendor Relationship Management.

I'll do a proper review…

Last week Ctrl-Shift hosted an intensive and fascinating two day event for the participants of the French MesInfos programme. MesInfos is run by the French think tank Fing and has similar aims to the UK Government’s midata initiative to release customer data back to customers so they can use it for their own purposes. The delegation included representatives from Société Générale, Le Groupe La Poste, Monoprix and Orange-France Telecom Group.

To help them get a flavor of midata and the changing personal data landscape we lined up an impressive array of briefings from the likes of: Visa Europe; Callcredit;…