ACORD Seeks Harmony Amid Industry Cacophony

ORLANDO–Contending that “it is difficult to be a one-man band in a mashed-up world,” ACORD President and Chief Executive Officer Gregory A. Maciag urged convention attendees here to be leaders and advocates in the ongoing insurance standards campaign “so that we can all make beautiful music together.”

In his speech earlier this week at the opening general session of the annual ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum, Mr. Maciag emphasized the value of standards in improving efficiency, productivity and cost control, while conceding that significant barriers–behavioral as well as logistical and technological–must still be overcome to achieve universal implementation.

“In some instances, we as an industry are still hampered by self-erected silos. We have barriers erected around companies, around products and even among some people,” he said.

Such a silo mentality persists at some organizations despite great advances in standardizing forms and communication protocols, he added, because “some still see self-interest and a competitive advantage in erecting barriers.”

Mr. Maciag urged everyone to “future proof” their companies by looking at the big picture, in which the long-term value of standards become clear.

“In this increasingly interconnected world,” he said, “the true competitive advantage will go to those who break down silos and barriers and enjoy the cost and time savings inherent in the use of industry-wide standards.”

Even though tremendous progress has been made on the standards front, much work remains to be done, according to Mr. Maciag, who indicated that the effort to keep standards current in an evolving industry and global marketplace must be ongoing.

“Regardless of what you hear, our world is not seamless,” he said. “But a seam is just an interface opportunity. Standards don't eliminate these seams, but they enable the parties to interconnect despite them.”

A day earlier, in a panel discussion on “Getting the Most From ACORD Standards Implementations” during the annual ACORD awards ceremony, Tom Neff, director of industry standards at Aon Re, said he realized that offering advice to his fellow award winners is “preaching to the choir.”

However, he emphasized to everyone in the “all-volunteer army” working with ACORD staff that “standards are not going to implement themselves. You've got to remain actively involved, both internally and externally.”

His best advice, he said, would be that “you can't look at [standards] as an [information technology] project. It's a business process project. You have to get everyone involved, not merely IT.”

A second panelist–Gary Plotkin, vice president and chief technology officer at The Hartford–said that because “standards change and evolve, you need to be active in the standards debate. We don't always agree [on standards], but we benefit by having our point of view heard and by taking part in the effort to achieve compromise.”

THE FINAL FRONTIER

As a change of pace, the Forum's keynote speaker was William Shatner–best known as Capt. James T. Kirk on “Star Trek” and master litigator Denny Crane on “Boston Legal.” The opening general session was packed to hear the cultural icon and two-time Emmy award winner talk about how technology leaders turn ideas into reality.

He urged Forum attendees to “be more like a kid. Kids are bold, winging it most of the time, taking shots, giving something new a try, always asking why something has to be the way it is and why it can't be something else.”

Risk taking is critical to progress in both technology and business processes, he added. “You have to be willing to go out on a limb sometimes. It encourages original thinking to get you out of the trouble your curiosity might have gotten you into in the first place.”

He warned that “all of us will find ourselves pushed out of our comfort zones more often as time goes on. If you think you don't like change, you'll like irrelevance even less.”

Therefore, he advised, “you can't let the fear of failure paralyze you….All of us need to be a little unreasonable, otherwise we'll never change the status quo when it needs to be changed.”

Mr. Shatner noted that while it might seem odd for an actor to be addressing an insurance technology conference, he said “Star Trek” inspired many scientists and engineers to turn some of the technologies only dreamed about 40 years ago on his TV series into a reality–citing robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, talking computers, mobile communicators and other cutting-edge products.

“Imagination is critical no matter what field you are in,” he concluded. “You must embrace the absolute refusal to stand still and reject the status quo if you have an idea about how to do something better.”