1.4 million UK households could benefit from better data sharing says a new report by Datum Future. This could produce £563 million in savings.

Datum Future – a cross-industry forum dedicated to “advancing a people-first data economy” – unveiled the findings in its Customer Journey Sandbox. The project identified fundamental ways in which sharing and using data responsibly can create tangible value for consumers, society and business.

It says that good data sharing could make a big difference at a time of soaring energy and household costs. And it concluded that if the Sandbox was adopted in the mainstream its impact over five years could be:

• Consumer: £343m – savings on bills & lower costs of debt
• Business: £142m – cost savings on customer service and customer debt
• Society: £78m – public poverty cost saving

Datum Future argues that five principles must be applied to any customer experience relating to data:

• Responsibility: acting ethically, with a duty of care towards customers and with their needs in mind
• Transparency: being honest and clear
• Control: giving the customer real choices
• Convenience: ease of use and simplicity
• Value: giving the customer benefits that matter to them

The Sandbox delivered a prototype that shows how treating people ethically and with empathy can help them to build their confidence in sharing their data so that they can benefit from it. 73 percent of those surveyed were interested in taking part in the offer.

Datum Future was founded by Accenture, BNP Paribas, Experian, Facebook, Mastercard, Microsoft and Publicis.