Take as an example American Express. As an employee there in the late 1960s and early '70s I participated as Amex established one of the earliest global financial networks. Amex provided its card members and service establishments with, at the time, a revolutionary new way to do business: They could execute secure and private financial transactions anytime anywhere in the world. To make this so, Amex created an operational approach to ensure that transactions would be absolutely accurate, fully consistent with the individual's ability to pay and protected to the fullest degree practical against fraud and disclosure.

The linchpin of this model was and is the magnetic-striped card that identifies and validates individual card members and other authorized stakeholders to use the integrated global network. Driven by Amex's then CEO, the offering from its outset focused on using technology and innovative business processes (many of which had to be invented) to capture the frequent traveler market. The model also had to assure service establishments accepting the card, as well as corporate management and financial institutions that fraud would be strictly controlled.

Amex's approach, with systematic enhancements, has endured for nearly 40 years and continues to earn the company trusted status around the world. As proof, Amex was voted as the most trusted company in the United States two years in a row by respondents to a survey by the Ponemon Institute, a privacy think tank. Amex's trust-based approach to security and privacy has won it a preeminent position in the financial services industry worldwide.

How Trust Works
The Amex example offers several insights for enterprises operating in a networked world:

Being "networked" is a communal choice, one in which the degree to which operations are secure and sensitive data is protected is defined by the capability of the least secure player.

Trust among interdependent partners is as important to the providers of products and services as it is to the recipients.

Access to the network must be as near to instantaneous as practical or users will find alternatives. They may wait patiently for access for a few milliseconds, but certainly not for a minute or more.

Human assistance is vital. There will always be the need to deal with exceptions that exceed the logical capability of computers. Therefore, a company must ensure that a human being, armed with as much supporting information as possible, is available to deal with non-standard transactions. In this way, users can feel they have received the best possible resolution of their needs.