We can build them better, faster and stronger. No, it's not the new Six Million Dollar Man, it's standards. Just as they rebuilt Steve Austin back in the 1970s using the latest technology, we are taking advantage of today's technology to build the insurance standards of the future.
Since 1970, ACORD and ACORD standards have changed and grown, and that evolution continues. By harnessing the power of today's technologies, we're making our standards even stronger, building them faster and more responsive to the needs of our increasingly diverse membership around the world.
We're also working to find new ways to bring different members together as communities with shared interests, enabling them to communicate more efficiently in more ways.
ACORD is becoming more agile and giving all of its members the tools they need to compete in today's global marketplace. Agility means survival.
Who would have imagined back in 1970 that we'd be communicating in nanoseconds across something called an Internet? Or that customers would be going to a World Wide Web to get insurance quotes? Or even that we'd be creating business partnerships with companies halfway around the world? What once lived only in the realm of science fiction writers is now our reality.
In today's world, an increasing number of members are involved in multiple business product lines and geographies. Due to growth or mergers and acquisitions, companies routinely are crossing those once traditional lines and tapping into new and emerging markets.
In the past, ACORD standards were similarly segmented by product lines, but that's changing. Today, progress continues on the ACORD Messaging Library, which looks to identify common data elements of our three domains:
o Property & Casualty/Surety
o Reinsurance & Large Commercial
o Life, Annuity and Health
By creating a "master library" of elements common across all domains, companies can implement standards faster and more efficiently.
But just as a library has many types of books by many authors, AML will contain many messages contributed over a period of years as authors complete their works of art.
However, the advantage is that the vast number of shared data elements in the library that will only exist once will support easier and more efficient implementation. After all, a policy number is a policy number, no matter what line of business you support.
The next advancement is the ACORD Standards Framework, which takes a top-down approach to development and utilizes the latest technology to help produce standards faster and more efficiently. The framework contains four interrelated facets that, when combined, define the nature of insurance:
o The Business Dictionary
o The Capability Model
o The Information Model
o The Component Model
These technology-agnostic facets will be instrumental in developing and maintaining standards for members around the globe.
There are also the new eForms, which are providing new features and functionality for everyone from form users to system developers.
From a user perspective, the new forms now contain related form listings, overflow capability and field parsing.
For system developers and integrators, the forms feature eLabels for easier and more consistent mapping, as well as XML data extraction capabilities.
We're also working to make the testing and certification process easier for members using the ACORD Testing and Certification Facility. In 2007, the TCF was launched for Document Repository Interface messages and expanded to Reinsurance & Large Commercial Placing Messages later in the year.
Work continues to expand this "virtual business partner" by adding more ACORD messages and making the testing process more automated, getting rid of the human intervention.
Over the years, ACORD has become increasingly diverse in its membership. Whether it's by adding different business lines to our growing standards base, or different perspectives (technology, business), or different geographies, our standards community is big and varied. And variety is, after all, the spice of life.
But how do people find others with similar interests and experiences? Today, that's social networking–connecting with others online within the many ACORD communities.
The elements of a social network have been in place at ACORD for awhile, including blogs, video and discussion forums. We're working to make these person-to-person interactions easier to accomplish. By seeking out and connecting with others, members can find those with common interests and opportunities to drive implementation of the standards forward.
No, we're not eliminating face-to-face communication. We're enhancing it!
The future is here. Just as Steve Austin had more powerful legs and arms as well as a telescopic eye, we're building ACORD standards to be more powerful and responsive.
Work is well underway on the Framework, AML, TCF and eForms to make ACORD standards even more responsive and agile. We're working with communities to build the future and support implementation.
By taking advantage of today's technologies and keeping an eye toward the future, we're not only reacting to change but proactively planning for the future, creating standards that are better, stronger and faster.
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