In a digital society, data and information are key economic resources. Services are paid for using personal information disclosed by the user. The control of information flows has the same strategic relevance as the control of natural resources.

Companies and other organisations such as ministries, administrations, associations or cooperatives must position themselves carefully in this enivronment. What information about customers, business partners or competitors should be collected and processed? What methods should be used? What new business models can be built on this data? How can data security and privacy also be ensured?

The implementation of PSD2 will require payment service providers to focus on the part of the value chain they want to cover in the future by offering payment accounts to customers who are identified according to KYC requirements or by creating new value-added services linked to payments. All parties involved in the payment processing chain are challenged by the regulatory requirements (especially strong authentication and access-to-bank-account) and by the business models of new market players such as fintechs. The level playing-field between competition and cooperation has to be created in the coming months and years.

My work as a freelance consultant is based on many years’ experience in the design of digital services in the customer-to-bank relationship and on my expertise in digital communication.

I support my clients so that they can ask the right questions and formulate answers for their strategies.

In addition, I specialise in the following tasks:

• Placement of political claims in the relevant decision-making processes.
• Market analysis.
• Development of business models for digital services and products.
• Definition of appropriate processes for customer onboarding and checkout, including secure identification and authentication.
• Business Process modelling with a focus on customer interaction (UX and security requirements).
• Defining business requirements for data collection and information exchange (data modelling).
• Compliance (especially regulatory requirements concerning identification and authentication).
• Mandates in European and international standardisation bodies.