What does a transparent process look like?

Transparency has always been important but now more than ever technology has brought into sharp relief the contrast between what is and what is not a transparent process.

The definition of transparent by the ‘all-knowing Google’ actually provides search results that are excellent for setting the scene of what a transparency process looks like.

Words and phrases such as:

• Easy to perceive, open and honest, without secrets;
• Functioning without the user being aware of its presence; and
• Clear and easy to understand without distortion.

are all indicative of what we inherently believe to represent something that is transparent, or indeed what the characteristics of a transparent process might be.

How does this relate to doing business?

Business by its very nature is the interaction between multiple parties. Typically someone wants to buy something (goods/services) and someone wants to purchase them. There may be third party beneficiaries to this process, and the step from first seller through to ultimate buyer could involve many intermediate transactions. These transactions can take place these days in either a physical or digital setting.

Increasingly consumers/clients want more than a just transparent outcome; that is the understanding of what they are getting/what is being delivered. Consumers and businesses are now demanding a transparent process and this is because a transparent process is harder to fudge, demands more information and typically leads to both a transparent outcome OR the ability to walk away from a transaction if they are unhappy with less loss ($ or reputation).

So, what are some characteristics of a transparent process?

Based on my experience a transparent process has four key characteristics:

1. Maximum inclusion of parties. It should be the goal of any process to include as many participants in the process as possible. The more parties that are present / involved in a transaction the more scrutiny can be placed upon what is happening. In a professional services setting, this means including your advisors in your transactions, even if it costs you a little more.
2. Extensive but controlled information sharing. The fact is that not everyone can know be permitted to have all information at all times. Sometimes there are pieces of information that are confidential (either temporarily or permanently) for good reason, they may be commercially sensitive e.g. auction reserves, or they may be privileged e.g. conversations with your doctor or lawyer. However, as much as is humanly / legally possible information should be shared up to these boundaries.
3. All this are recorded and reported. At any stage in a process of a transaction parties should be able to get a copy of what’s happened to date. And, this should be everything. The more the better. If people want to trawl through information / records, great, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but data should be available en masse if requested.
4. Outcomes are measured against processes. When you get to the end of a transaction there should be a measurement of the outcome against the process. Did the transaction achieve the desired result for all parties? Did it match expectations? Did the process run as expected and if not, were the parties to the transaction appropriately updated?
5. Factoring in the last time a transaction took place. You’re only as good as your last piece of work. Not entirely true, but the sentiment is relevant. A transparent process will factor in not only what is submitted to a current process, but also what has transpired previously. Factoring in this information / data is easier in today’s environment than in the world of paper files. In this case, and contrary to many financial disclaimers, past performance is an indicator of future success as far as a transparent process is concerned.

Why does a transparent process matter?

I’m a firm believer that the internet and digital products generally have been really great for taking our data for their own benefit to date, this platform included. I am however, not one to judge, these platforms are free (mostly), and people / companies have historically sacrificed large amounts of their privacy / data in exchange for the wonderful digital tools that are provided to them free of charge.

That being said, going forward, I definitely believe that it is imperative that all platforms (my own included) engage as much as possible in being net positive contributors to data sharing for the benefit of the platform / marketplace users. In our case this involves ratings, performance data and ease-of-reporting tools.

A transparent process makes the above ideological goal of ‘users helping users’ possible for three reasons:

1. When users are looking at transactions they know a process is consistent and as a result performance outcomes are truly comparable;
2. When marketplace participants are submitting, they know that they’re submitting on fair and equal terms with others also submitting; and
3. When outcomes are being assessed there’s a rigorous process to point to for third parties and stakeholders to be confident in, even if they are not direct users.

Now for your thoughts!

Love to hear your comments on what is a transparent process — what you think it looks like, what characteristics you’ve seen historically, and where you think platforms/marketplaces should head to make their processes even more transparent.

If you’d like to know more about me head to my profile, if you’d like to know more about our platform head to Vendorable.com or send us an email to contact@vendorable.com we’d love to chat to you about your real estate transaction service requirements.