The Center for Information-Based Competition provides thought leadership to help businesses advance their understanding of customers, both as consumers and as people.

John McKean is frequently called on by the world's leading businesses to inspire new levels of customer awareness and effectiveness through fact-based insights and a passion for customer excellence. His real world customer work is balanced with the academic rigors of guest lecturing at MIT Sloan Graduate School and postgraduate work at Harvard University.

His book "Customers Are People - The Human Touch" is being heralded as a "powerful" and "compelling" work ushering in the new era of customer interaction. McKean reveals how the world's leading "Human Touch" firms implement the intuitive art of their most successful sales, marketing and service individuals as a consistent science across business functions...a science based on our research findings that "70 percent of the customer's decision to buy is based on how they are treated as people..."

"Information Masters - Secrets of the Customer Race" is "...utterly riveting and very surprising" (Amazon.com.uk), revealing why only 5% of the world's firms are achieving the full potential of their Customer Relationship Management initiatives. Information Masters was also awarded the exclusive honor of Wiley Publishing's "BEST ON THE MARKET" book list along with Wiley's other high profile list of authors including Peter Drucker, Jack Welch and Warren Buffett.

Mr. McKean's experience spans 20 years of operational success in sales, marketing and service enabled by powerful information capabilities in both the private and public sectors.

Mr. McKean's academic rigors include teaching, studying and research at some of the world's top universities. These include: MIT's Sloan Graduate School of Management - guest lecturer for the application of advanced technologies, Harvard University - Postgraduate International Monetary Economics and Finance with research in international technology transfer, Georgetown University - postgraduate work in international trade, University of New Hampshire - Masters Degree in Business and Marketing, Hartwick College - Undergraduate studies in Economics and Political Science.