The Customer Experience Revolution We've Been Waiting For

The vision of Cluetrain is ready to leave the station...

Over the years, I've witnessed countless promises of customer-centric transformations go sideways. Depending on how success was defined, they often missed the most powerful indicator to measure, the actual customer value created. Most fell flat because they fundamentally misunderstood the power dynamic. But something significant is shifting, and it's about time we in the CX community paid attention. My colleagues on the Customer Commons board (

Doc Searls

,

Iain Henderson

,

mary hodder

), and a host of others have been hard at work establishing the rails for the Cluetrain to run between customers and the organizations they engage with, via the IEEE. This is significant.

The new IEEE standard P7012, known as MyTerms, represents a paradigm shift I haven't seen since the early days of CRM. Instead of companies dictating terms through endless privacy policies and cookie notices, customers can now proffer their own privacy terms as first parties. Companies become second parties who agree—or don't. This isn't just another compliance framework; it's a complete inversion of how customer relationships begin.

In my experience, the most successful CX initiatives happen when customers feel empowered, not manipulated. MyTerms delivers this by enabling customers to set their own privacy boundaries upfront. No more 10,000-word privacy policies that nobody reads. No more annoying cookie banners that interrupt the experience. Instead, we get clear, contractual agreements that work for both sides.

What really excites me is how this creates the foundation for true Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) systems. For years, I've watched companies invest billions in CRM systems while completely ignoring the customer's side of the relationship. MyTerms changes this dynamic entirely. Imagine your CRM finally having genuine, permissioned data to work with instead of surveillance-gathered breadcrumbs.

The integration possibilities here are staggering. Personal AI agents working on behalf of customers can interface with corporate AI systems through these MyTerms agreements. This isn't about replacing human connection—it's about enabling more meaningful interactions at scale. The customer's AI can communicate preferences, needs, and intentions while our systems respond with relevant solutions.

Many CX initiatives get derailed by legal concerns, compliance overhead, and assumptions of what customers may want. MyTerms flips this script entirely. Companies that embrace customer-defined terms gain competitive differentiation, reduce legal risk, and build stronger trust relationships. The compliance burden actually decreases when both parties have clear, agreed-upon terms.

This connects back to the original Cluetrain Manifesto vision from 1999—markets as conversations between real people. MyTerms creates the infrastructure for customers to signal genuine intent rather than being surveilled and profiled. For CX professionals, this means we can finally focus on delivering value instead of guessing what customers want.

The implications extend far beyond privacy compliance. We're looking at new business models, deeper customer relationships, and the potential obsolescence of surveillance capitalism. Customer Commons will host the first roster of standard terms, creating a marketplace of privacy preferences that scales across industries.

For those of us building customer experience platforms, this represents the biggest opportunity since the shift to digital. The companies that recognize and implement MyTerms early will gain tremendous competitive advantage in an increasingly privacy-conscious market.

The train is leaving the station, and this time, customers are driving.

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This summary only scratches the surface of what MyTerms could mean for the future of customer relationships. The full article dives deeper into the technical specifications, implementation timeline, and broader implications for markets, lawmakers, and developers. If you're serious about the future of customer experience, read Doc’s complete article to understand how this standard could transform your entire approach to customer relationships.