An industry statistics programme succeeds or fails on its governance: a legally binding agreement that defines the dos and don'ts, competition-law discipline before, during and after meetings and a facilitator who makes sure smaller members are heard alongside the biggest voices in the room. Kym Oakley, whose company Synergix Solutions provides secretariat management for industry associations, explains where that quiet work happens and why it is what holds a room full of competitors together.
Ask Kym Oakley what makes an industry data programme work and she does not start with software or statistics. She starts with people - and with making sure the smallest member in the room is heard as clearly as the biggest.
Kym runs Synergix Solutions, which provides secretariat management for industry associations. She looks after everything an association needs, from governance through to membership and finances, and several of her clients run industry statistics programmes. Across all of it, her job is to hold a group of competitors together fairly. It is the human side of trust and governance in competitive data sharing, and it is harder than it looks.
Why associations exist at all
The starting point, Kym says, is collective voice. "An industry association brings the member companies of one industry together to form a voice and be collective as a group rather than one individual voice, especially to government. An association is very important, just for strengthening that voice."
That principle - every company counts - runs through everything else she does. And it is most tested when the companies in the room are direct rivals who happen to share a few common interests, from health and safety to industry standards.
Giving the smaller member a voice
The instinct in any room full of competitors is for the loudest, largest companies to set the agenda. Kym's role is to make sure they do not.
"You can't have a small member sit back and think, well, this isn't about me. It's about every single company, whether they're small or large," she says. "There's no discrimination."
The smaller participants are often the ones who need the data most and speak up the least. "They may not want to speak up in a room full of bigger companies and bigger personalities. But as long as I engage with them and allow them to have that voice, that's what's significant. They trust that process."
She is blunt about what is at stake. Shutting a smaller member out is not just bad manners - it can cross a line. "Not allowing someone to have a voice can also be anti-competitive behaviour. If somebody is talking over the top of people, you've got to shut that down and let someone else have a say."
Egos are managed by the paperwork
Keeping a group of rivals civil is, in Kym's words, close to a psychologist's job. "It's maintaining so many different personalities and creating so many different relationships. There can be some very big voices in business, and it's learning to manage that. I may not be the most liked person in the room at times, but you learn to deal with it."
The thing that gives her the authority to manage those personalities is not force of character. It is documentation. "As long as an industry association has a constitution and abides by its rules and governance, that's mandatory. And there are lots of different policies that sit behind the constitution - Codes of Conduct, Privacy Policies - as long as the member is aware of those at the time of signing up."
Those policies are what let her step in without it becoming personal. When a conversation drifts somewhere it should not, she has a rule to point to rather than an opinion to defend.
That matters most around competition law. "At the start of every meeting we read through a competition and antitrust statement. What's really important is that the statement covers that they can't have those conversations before, during or after meetings - even the water cooler discussions at a conference. A lot of them don't realise that, so it has to be set out up front."
The dos and don'ts most members get wrong
When the conversation turns to the dos and don'ts of using industry data, Kym's first answer is the one most people overlook. The biggest risk is not a dramatic breach. It is the absence of any agreement at all.
"The biggest misconception is not having an agreement between all the parties - the supplier, the members and anyone else with their hands in the statistics programme. An agreement is crucial, and in it you state all the dos and don'ts of the reporting. Usually we'd have a lawyer draw it up so it's legally binding."
Without that foundation, there is nothing to enforce. If a programme never defines misuse, it cannot tell anyone off for it - the rule simply does not exist to be broken.
The most common don't, once an agreement is in place, is using shared data to market your own position. Declaring a market share figure, or claiming to be "number one" in a state, is exactly the sort of thing an association should take a dim view of - and in a closed programme, no single participant should even know where they sit. The data is for internal decisions, not for the sales pitch.
Where a data provider fits - and where it does not
Kym is often asked whether an outside statistics provider competes with the association itself. Her answer is a firm no, and the distinction is worth getting right when you are explaining it to a cautious board.
"A statistics provider would not be a competitor to an association. It's a supplier that provides a service. The members might get together and say, we want to know our market share, we need somebody who can provide that information - and that's when you go to a provider."
The boundary is clean. "A data service provider doesn't engage in the association's constitution, its governing laws or its secretariat. Its role is just to provide the statistics, and that's where the service ends." No events, no marketing, no membership dues, no membership drives. The association stays the association. The provider quietly does one job well.
Why a statistics programme makes membership stick
For an association weighing up whether a data programme is worth the effort, Kym's view is unambiguous. A water bottle with the association logo is a nice-to-have you can get anywhere. Industry data is not.
"It helps businesses benchmark their performance against the rest of the industry. It's vital information for understanding where they should be in the market," she says. "And it helps associations retain membership, because that is the only place they can get that information from. In a closed programme especially, it's vital they know the information is kept confidential - and having a provider that can maintain that confidentiality is vital."
That is the quiet logic behind running an industry data sharing programme: the data only exists because the association created the place for it to be shared, which is exactly what makes membership worth keeping.
Key takeaways
- A legally binding agreement between all parties - supplier, members and anyone else involved - is the foundation; without one, misuse cannot even be defined.
- Shared data is for internal decisions, not marketing; declaring market share figures or "number one" claims should be avoided.
- Competition-law statements must cover conversations before, during and after meetings, including the water cooler discussions at conferences.
- A constitution backed by policies lets a facilitator manage big personalities by pointing to rules rather than defending opinions.
- Smaller members often need the data most and speak up least; deliberate facilitation keeps them heard, and shutting them out can itself be anti-competitive.
- A statistics programme makes membership stick, because the data exists nowhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Is a data provider like PowerStats a competitor to an industry association?
No. A statistics provider is a supplier to the association, providing one service. Its role ends at collecting and reporting the statistics: it does not engage in the association's constitution, governing laws or secretariat, and it runs no events, no marketing and no membership drives. It communicates with members only for the purposes of the statistics programme.
What should an industry data sharing agreement cover?
It should state the dos and don'ts of the reporting - what parties can and cannot do with the data - and bind the supplier, the members and anyone else involved in the programme. Kym recommends having a lawyer draw it up so it is legally binding. Without it, misuse is left undefined and there is nothing to enforce when something goes wrong.
Can members use shared industry statistics in their marketing?
No. The data is for internal decision-making. Declaring a market share figure or claiming to be "number one" in a state is exactly the sort of use the association should take a dim view of - and in a closed reporting programme, no single participant should even know where they sit.
Why should an industry association run a statistics programme?
Because it is a member benefit no other channel can offer. Benchmarking data helps member businesses understand where they sit in the market, and it exists only because the association created the place for it to be shared - which makes membership worth keeping in a way branded merchandise does not.
The takeaway
Kym's craft is mostly invisible when it works. Competitors sit in a room, share their confidential sales numbers and leave on good terms - because someone made sure the rules were written down, the regulator's lines were respected and every company, large or small, had its say.
PowerStats is built to support that work, not replace it. We handle the collection, processing and reporting so the data stays neutral - and in closed reporting programmes we anonymise and aggregate contributions, so no participant's figures are visible to another. The association keeps doing what only it can do: holding its members together and giving members large and small a voice. Give your members something they can get nowhere else - talk to PowerStats about supporting your association's statistics programme.
