Laurent Liscia of OASIS wrote a great series on Standards and Innovation on his blog. Starting with the backstory of standards, he notes an example of standards setting that's new to me, but which I'll be adding to my storehouse:
“I would argue that one of the first modern, 'public-minded' standards arose from the Baltimore fire of 1904, which destroyed 2,500 buildings simply because the hoses of out-of-town firemen were not compatible with the local hydrants: the out-manned local firemen could not count on outside help."”
There's much to savor in this story. Liscia points out that modern standards began with safety in mind. I believe that's still the case for industry data standards: we use standards because we want to minimize risk. Notice also that the Baltimore hydrant problem wasn't a problem until the city needed “outside help”. As soon as you have commerce with entities that don't use your local standards, you realize how isolated you are. For insurance carriers, agents and brokers, global industry data standards are the guarantor of a working community.
Of course, standards generally go back to ancient times, but more modern silos drive us to do something about it. ACORD publishes openly available standards that cross industry sectors and geographies. We respect regional (local) differences and do provide for them when necessary to local business. But these extensions are the exception rather than the rule. In essence, ACORD Standards provide for local markets yet connect the dots across the value chain. To do otherwise, limits value, increases cost and mutes innovation.
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