Your Church – What Differentiates It?

As the world is changing, and all you have to do is look to our sister churches, organizations and not for profits in the EU to see what is eventually coming to the US.

Will your Church be an “e-privacy and Compliance Integrator”?  If you are planning on “surviving” the changes that are on the heels of churches in America as the technological revolutions continue to grow and expand, you need to start thinking now about how you will change your operations, so you are not caught behind the “eight ball” when regulations hit our shores.

To grow and prosper your church, organization soon or not for profit will focus on how to deliver governance and privacy compliance best practices, as a way of life going forward.  You will develop “missional privacy governance models” as solutions integrated into your regular church business life cycles and related missional solutions.

The easiest and most straightforward way to start thinking about what you will need is to start thinking regarding “Lego blocks” for you to reuse in all future projects.  Think “plug and play” components.  The key here is to Implement change over time and not the proverbial “big bang” which is very expensive and time-consuming.

“Church-Privacy-Management” – that’s the differentiator.  

Because everything in the world of technology, and church operations, will have to sooner or later address the privacy issue, it becomes imperative to start thinking now about what you will have to put into play from a technology, process, organization, and religious mindshare standpoint.

Delivery method/model:

The core technological capabilities will come in the form of customizable building blocks that encapsulate the desired functionality and interfaces with external data sources, such as SaaS services, Judicatory databases, congregational laptops, phones, tablets, etc.  Congregations will also have access to these modules as a mode of “self-compliance” by the members of your church or organization. Groups will also have access to a data-consolidation model and logic-update service of their data to be provided by you for their monitoring.  As updates to data become available, congregations will be notified that an update is available and could update their files automatically.

This will eventually reduce malware schemes that are identified; minimize misuse of personally identifiable data, and your staff will be able to quickly develop new logic to detect them using the “Lego block” model.

Church Operational Model:

What churches and organizations will discover because of early adoption of privacy is many alternative ministry models will become possible, each combining both upfront and recurring information that will be used in positive ways to expand the ministry and mission.  Modules will be developed to provide an entire service, a managed service by you for your congregations regarding who they are, their needs, their history and financial concerns all within a context of privacy that they have control over.

The proposed model of confidentiality offers the following advantages:

Stickiness.  Because the world of technology, in particular, the internet has opened the door to illegal behavior, we must recognize that ‘bad actors” are inherently evasive. Technology requirements are usually a work-in-progress, congregations will require more continuous attention and updates to their lookup tables and monitoring logic to meet the new needs of privacy that are unfolding universally.  This creates an inherent “stickiness.”  Consolidating data sources further enhances this stickiness.

Retaining members of your congregation.  The significant recurring component of the required privacy services enhances retaining members of your group versus joining another church where they will feel comfortable with how their data is managed.

 Self-supporting insights and value proposition.  The effectiveness and value of detection logic rely on meaningful behavioral profiles and early knowledge of new schemes to circumvent privacy.  In addition to providing updates to customers about their data, you will gain benefit by gaining access to the statistical analysis of your congregation as it relates to privacy.  By aggregating privacy data, you will gain access to valuable statistical profiles that are not available today.  This further enhances the stickiness and self-acceleration of the service.

•    The administrative side of your privacy and compliance efforts will be reduced by introducing self-service, easy access to data, personal ownership of transactions, eliminating paperwork, and streamlining the operational process.  The technology improves efficiency. The technology monitors self-service.

•    Technology improves how you manage data, increases the service levels, and builds confidence among your congregation that your data is well maintained.  The tools of the fourth and fifth industrial technology revolution improve competitiveness and your member’s relationships.

Efficiency is not Transformation.

What is true, viable transformation?  What does it entail?

For years, churches have been trying to hone their operational processes and underlying technology infrastructure to improve their operational efficiency. As more and more regulations will be placed on all organizations, businesses, and churches, operational efficiency has become a real challenge.  But past a certain point, improving operational efficiency will contribute only so much to the bottom line of your church or organization. As the maxim goes, “You cannot shrink to greatness.”

To continue to grow, prosper and be missional, churches must find ways to address change that is occurring in the world, a world where your congregation will have expectations of what privacy means to them from the experiences they encounter in their everyday life with companies, financial institutions, and retail operations. This presents new challenges to churches who have never viewed the problem at hand as an opportunity to expand their mission and help their congregations meet the living God.

In summary, I would like to share this thought with you today:

“The rules of the marketplace may be cruel, but they have taught us three valuable lessons. If we rest on our laurels, we will wither. If we stop being bold, we will rot. If we don’t take leaps of faith, we cannot lead.”