Udenti: Some People Just Don't Get It ;-)

My business partner John and I laugh about a pitch we went through at a previous agency, where the client had extremely tight security and privacy regs for its agencies. There were tight limits on who got to see what, how many people could see anything, and a host of demands for physical and electronic safeguards.

At the time, our agency protected data rather...minimally, as the evaluators found when they got their tour of the agency and found the door to the server room propped open near another propped open door leading to a smoking porch shared by several companies. Happily the agency has since corrected those issues, but not in time.

The evaluators' letter was very nice, but if you can hear a letter when you see it, this one would have sounded like the X on Family Feud.

Anyway. Udenti offers a really compelling set of electronic ways that user data can be protected. Companies can group their customer data into bundles and give different teams in an org access to certain parts. It's sort of a need to know kinda thang. So, for example, PII might be in a bundle, purchase history in another, comments and inquiries into another, and so on.

But these bundles are not doorless walls, it's just that the gates have locks, and the teams with access get to decide if someone outside the door should get access to something. Let me spin a little story here to explain the relevancy.

If a customer service tech needed to know what model of a product a consumer has in order to meet their needs better, they could request access from the purchase history guardians. It seems like a legit reason, so ding, the electronic door opens for that record.

Another aspect of this might be that some people can see data, and others can modify it. A nice additional aspect of data security.

Here's the 60 sec pitch:



Over at TC, the vid isn't getting a great thumbs up reception, but if you read the comments, its all about the supposed paucity of enthusiasm, not the concept. OK then. I see the point, but I suggest that in this instance it's important to try the steak rather than focusing solely on hearing the sizzle.

I think we need to remember that not every idea is a revolutionary consumer app that makes purple chickens dance across your mobile screen. And recognize that technology like Udenti that is focused on security is interesting for what it is rather than how the box looks.

Also, I thought the vid was fine. Though a little sizzle never hurts when you're selling the steak. But every day gives us an opportunity to make progress, not perfection.

I like this concept. I am a marketing guy, so I dunno the 1s and 0s of how it works. As Barbie says...math is hard...but the idea of this sounds really valuable to me, and I will be watching for more info over time. I don't think it can unprop a door to a server room, though. Perhaps Udenti 2.0 or Udenti Platinum. ;-)

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.