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

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

“In some instances, we as an industry are still hampered byself-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 despitegreat advances in standardizing forms and communication protocols,he added, because “some still see self-interest and a competitiveadvantage in erecting barriers.”

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

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

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

“Regardless of what you hear, our world is not seamless,” hesaid. “But a seam is just an interface opportunity. Standards don'teliminate these seams, but they enable the parties to interconnectdespite them.”

A day earlier, in a panel discussion on “Getting the Most FromACORD Standards Implementations” during the annual ACORD awardsceremony, Tom Neff, director of industry standards at Aon Re, saidhe 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 implementthemselves. You've got to remain actively involved, both internallyand externally.”

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

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

THE FINAL FRONTIER

As a change of pace, the Forum's keynote speaker was WilliamShatner–best known as Capt. James T. Kirk on “Star Trek” and masterlitigator Denny Crane on “Boston Legal.” The opening generalsession was packed to hear the cultural icon and two-time Emmyaward winner talk about how technology leaders turn ideas intoreality.

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

Risk taking is critical to progress in both technology andbusiness processes, he added. “You have to be willing to go out ona limb sometimes. It encourages original thinking to get you out ofthe trouble your curiosity might have gotten you into in the firstplace.”

He warned that “all of us will find ourselves pushed out of ourcomfort zones more often as time goes on. If you think you don'tlike change, you'll like irrelevance even less.”

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

Mr. Shatner noted that while it might seem odd for an actor tobe addressing an insurance technology conference, he said “StarTrek” inspired many scientists and engineers to turn some of thetechnologies only dreamed about 40 years ago on his TV series intoa reality–citing robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence,talking computers, mobile communicators and other cutting-edgeproducts.

“Imagination is critical no matter what field you are in,” heconcluded. “You must embrace the absolute refusal to stand stilland reject the status quo if you have an idea about how to dosomething better.”