Today’s interview is with Geraldine McBride, CEO of MyWave, a next generation CRM solution that puts the customer in charge of their data and their experience. You might remember that I spoke to Geraldine just over a year ago (Moving from the era of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to the era of CMR (Customer Managed Relationships) and this interview was an opportunity to catch up and see what’s been happening in the data, privacy and development of the the emerging Personal Information Management (PIM)/Customer Managed Relationship (CMR) space.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – What it takes to build an award winning and customer centric culture – Interview with Fiona McSwein of Simply Business – and is number 161 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Highlights of my interview with Geraldine:

• We caught up at Ctrl-Shift’s annual Personal Information Economy conference called Growth Through Trust that took place in London on December 8th.
• The last time that we spoke MyWave was in pilot phase. Now, they are starting to rollout their technology for customers to use.
• Three years ago when they launched the Personal Information Management (PIM)/Customer Managed Relationship (CMR) space was very nascent.
• Now, given the news about data and privacy breaches in the last 12 months the development of the market is accelerating and MyWave is working on propositions with a number of early-adopter brands in Australia, New Zealand and the UK (retailers, banks, utility companies etc) and are launching in the US too.
• The conversation is now shifting away from data and privacy issues to one that is looking at end to end services and outcomes.
• The European Parliament’s revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) is having a big influence of the conversation, the implications and the level of innovation that we are seeing in this space right now.
• Data and privacy preferences are like another customer segmentation vector.
• Professor Alan Westin identified three types of customer segments when it comes to privacy: the fundamentalists, the unconcerned and the pragmatists.
• Geraldine thinks there is a maturation of thought when it comes to responding to the many data and privacy issues and that we are now at the tipping point. The conference that we met at was attended by over 300 delegates and 55 different brands.
• We need to change the conversation and stop talking about data and start talking about outcomes. Outcomes that the brands want to achieve and outcomes that customers want to achieve.
• Data is the consequence and not the thing.
• With the proliferation of personal intelligent assistants (Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft all have rolled out or are rolling out personal intelligent assistants) we have to ask who benefits from the work of the intelligent assistant.
• The Personal Data Economy is all about unlocking the value that exists in data and creating mutual value exchange.
• MyWave have just gone live in New Zealand with Frank, their intelligent assistant, and Saveawatt (they also spoke at the conference), an established utilities brokerage and consultancy that is reinventing themselves and the way that customers buy and manage power. Check out their explanatory customer video here and their video for energy retailers here.
• What MyWave has helped them do is create a two-sided market.
• In the case of energy, Frank’s objective for the consumer is to make sure that they are on the best plan for them based on their usage. However, this isn’t a race to the bottom for energy retailers as there is an economic model there for them too where Frank allows them to drive down the cost to serve/acquisition and retention costs such that they are able to focus on the customers that are better suited to them.
• MyWave is coming to the UK in 2016 with Saveawatt as well as another (to be announced) major utility player, that has tens of millions of customers. Watch this space.
• However, it’s not all about price and customers can set their preferences around what sort of energy supplier that they want, including their sustainable/green energy production preferences etc.
• The applications for Frank and MyWave’s approach are very wide.
• Geraldine is particularly interested in the application of Frank in the travel industry as there is lots of ‘friction’ in the whole travel experience/process.
• Following a number of exploratory workshops she is also excited about the prospects of some existing and upcoming pilots/opportunities. They are looking at how they can apply Frank to the whole farming ecosystem, home energy management, the whole house buying and management process as well as the buying of both new and used cars. Check out the range of applications here.
• Check out MyWave’s new and very informative website at www.mywave.me for more info.

About Geraldine (adapted from her MyWave bio)

New Zealander Geraldine McBride is a former CEO and President of several divisions of SAP (North America, Asia Pacific, Australia New Zealand), and senior Vice President and Global Head of Applications and BPO (cloud mobile and outsourcing services) for Dell.

She is a leading international expert on IT and business strategies in the context of digital disruption and change. Among many international speaking engagements she has addressed the World Economic Forum and the European Union, and has appeared on the cover of Chief Executive Magazine as one of a dozen leaders in the vanguard of forging a new global economy. She was the winner of the 2013 World Class New Zealand Awards in the category of Information and Communications.

In 2013 Geraldine founded MyWave – a CMR (customer managed relationship) technology platform which turns traditional CRM on its head by putting the customer in control of getting personalised experiences anytime, anywhere, on any device. MyWave’s user interface – “Frank” – is a mobile or web based Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA), powered by a personal cloud, in conjunction with an events, rules and conversation-based commerce engine. Users own/control and update their own data based on their own preferences and buying intentions and share their real-time preferences and needs, enabling a business to tailor products and services in a far more targeted and relevant way.

In addition to her role as CEO of MyWave, Geraldine holds a number of public company director appointments. These include National Australia Bank (NAB), Sky TV and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

You can find out more about MyWave via their website, connect with her on LinkedIn here and do say Hi on Twitter @geraldineglobal and@mywaveme.