Case Study: A professional services firm subscribed to an online database providing vital business information.  The firm paid for usage of this database according to the volume and nature of records downloaded.  At the time of this case this was a popular cost model.  (FT Profile, for example, was billed at 4 pence per line for regular content such as the content of the Financial Times newspaper, whilst some market research reports were billed at several pounds per line of text downloaded.)

On one occasion when the invoice for this database arrived the senior management team were surprised to see that usage had been so costly; it seemed to them that the cast was unreasonable, and they sought an explanation from the information centre manager.  He, however, could not adequately account for the high cost of this database over the preceding period, other than to say that it was because one of the senior consultants had been engaged in particularly sensitive work for a key client regarding a corporate acquisition.  He felt unable to explain the nature of the costly enquiry as he had assured the client that all information work would be treated in utmost confidence. The information manager was saddened to think that senior management did not accept that some clients may justifiably incur large costs and that they were not prepared to accept his word.

The dilemma was partly resolved by first speaking with the client to tell him of the problem, then by revealing to a senior manager (approved by the client) who was not involved in the investigation the identity of the client. That senior manager agreed that such expensive work could justifiably be attributed to the particular client, and he in turn advised the investigating managers without revealing the identity of the client.

In a similar case, the information manager resolved the conflict by describing the general nature of the enquiry (which could be seen from detailed logs), without revealing the client’s identity, satisfying senior management that appropriate work had been undertaken.

The editors comment...

The extent of responsibility to safeguard a client's confidential interests was clearly at the front of this information professional's mind when faced with this situation.  Only he and the client from whom he had received the instruction were able to determine whether the nature of the client investigation was so sensitive that it could or should not be revealed to other consultants or senior managers at the firm, but one imagines that, in a situation where Chinese walls are commonplace, it would not be unreasonable for the information professional to have a real concern for divulging details of his investigation, including the identity of the client - a relationship which itself may reveal confidential information.  We do not know why this firm did not have adequate measures to deal with the possibility that administrative activities such as analysis internal costs should be able to occur within such an environment.

In this case the information professional sought the advice of the internal client.  This was a logical action because it would give the client the opportunity to support the information professional and possible find a common solution to the problem, and at the same time demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of the information professional in maintaining the confidential relationship.  Indeed, CILIP's Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Practice in themselves do not provide any practical guidance to the information professional or his client in such situations, so it seems that the information professional has chosen the most prudent course of action, to seek guidance (and disclose his dilemma) to the internal client.  There is a possibility that in doing so the information professional may also have conveyed a sense of professional immaturity (in not being able to resolve the dilemma single-handedly), but this in itself gives rise to an opportunity to engage with the client in seeking ways ethically to mitigate against such situations arising in the future.

Created: v0.9 01-Oct-05 : JG-T

Revised: v0.91 15-Oct-06 : JG-T.  v1.0 09-Jun-07 : JG-T.  v1.1 16-Jun-07 : JG-T