Collaborative Consumption

Trust between strangers

Carla Ross - 28.09.2011

Collaborative consumption in public services depends on creating new kinds of relationships with, and between, citizens with a particular emphasis on trust between strangers acting as the glue that holds the system together. Our event earlier this year explored this notion in more detail. It's worth visiting these presentations, as they contain lots of useful ideas and thinking from across public sector and the entrepreneurial community.

There was much to learn from the day, however five consistent principles emerged from examples of collaborative consumption in action.

1)      Foster and utilise the hidden wealth in relationships

Change the way in which you look at your service users. Start to see them as potential assets in the system rather than drains on resources and new ways of delivering services could start to emerge. Jonathan Simmons, talked about the Horse's Mouth, which uses this principle effectively.  Horse's Mouth connects up people who have a little to offer to somebody else who needs support. The same principle is used in IAG (Information, Advice and Guidance) services for NEETS. FutureYou is a peer mentoring network for NEETS that taps into the hidden wealth of relationships to help move NEETS into opportunities such as work or training. As a model using trained peer mentors it can hugely reduce the cost of delivery of IAG services.

2)      Design and deliver services with, and not to, service users

Services that are designed with service users can end up with radically different and more effective approaches. We saw this principle in action with presentations from entrepreneurs such as Meriel Lenfestey  from Ecomodo. They keenly understand what users need, and design accordingly. Much of the system and service then works because of users' continued engagement, such as reviews, ratings and participation. It can work in public services too. The LIFE project is a good example of this -  a family intervention project designed with service users  -  and includes letting families choose their own frontline worker to work with them as they navigate their way towards more stable lives that takes a radically different approach. So far in the first year with 12 families it has resulted in savings of over £700,000. Going forward social technology, in the form of the lifeboard will play an important role in supporting the principle of 'with' by enabling families to update and reflect on progress in the system. This project is also part of Reboot Britain.

3)      Consider shifting some services from a rationed model to open to all

It seems to make sense to ration expensive services, but by opening some services up and using the assets in the community, it's possible that services could be delivered for less or help prevent demand for more expensive services further up the 'pyramid'. A good example of this, is hospital beds, introduced by David Halpern.  The Lund hospital in Sweden, called a patient hotel, enables patients to share a room with relatives.  The set up of the rooms and targeted support helps patients become more self-sufficient, relatives help with care, and help out new patients and visitors too. To support this shift, nurses were retrained and the system was designed to make full use of the time and skills of relatives and patients. The result is a reduction in the time it takes for patients to get back on their feet and a reduction in demand on nursing time, saving money. Traditionally hospital beds are expensive (3000 Sek per night in Sweden). With the Lund model the cost of a bed is 823 Sek per night.

4)      Transparency builds trust - open up what you do

Giles Andrews talked about how transparency proved to be a key part of the Zopa money lending model. They recognised that banks had hard trust - that the money was safe (this vaporised in the credit crunch soon after) but lacked soft trust - that is people didn't trust banks to look after their best interests. Zopa knew that they needed to be different and build trust, otherwise the proposition was, as Giles noted, "lend money to a complete stranger on a website you've never heard of, and expect to get it back." They set about doing this by being open about how they made money with plain T&Cs. They encouraged a sense of community that shared views about Zopa in an open and transparent way. The forum became a core part of the business and it used Facebook and Twitter as feedback channels, with open rather than closed dialogue. When another customer answers instead of Zopa, it's more likely to be trusted. As such, the forum helped deliver customer service and enabled Zopa to employ fewer people.

5)      Make it fun and motivational. The desire and the rewards need to be strong.

Entrepreneurs and social good organisations strongly emphasised that ultimately, what brings people in is that people do it for pleasure, for the rewards. For many this mitigates the perceived risks in opening up your, home, couch, drill, wallet or book. The Good Gym was an excellent example of this. The Good Gym started out with the notion that lots of energy goes to waste in gyms up and down the country, and if that energy could be re-directed people could get fit and achieve social good at the same time. The good gym pairs runners with those who are less mobile, older and often more isolated, in Tower Hamlets. The runners take round a paper, an apple (anything useful) and stop for a chat. Both feel connected and rewarded. Studies show that only one in ten people see family and friends once a month, but that when older people are less socially isolated there is an increase in cognitive abilities, increase in vascular health, all benefits that could help prevent people needing more expensive services.