A few weeks ago my company, Buondrius, was recognised with a Standards in Action Award at ACORD Connect, and I’m grateful to the clients, partners, and peers who made that possible. Now, I could use this space for a victory lap. But I’d rather offer something more useful. 😅
The award is about putting standards into action, and the word I’m going to put in bold here is action. Publishing a standard is one thing. Getting a claims or accounting team to work with it every single day is quite another.
The standard itself is rarely the hard part. It’s after the go-live, when a message inevitably arrives that doesn’t quite fit. So here are three things I’d do to help a standard stick:
1. Agree what the words mean before you map the fields
Two teams can fill in the same field and mean different things by it. Sit down with the people who use the data (handlers, accountants, and underwriters) and settle the definitions first. A standard only works as a shared language if everyone means the same thing by it.
2. Keep a living record of what doesn’t fit
As I said, it’s inevitable. Every implementation throws up exceptions: an unusual treaty structure, a legacy output, a field nobody can explain. Log each one, along with the reasoning for how it was handled. This stops the knowledge living in one or two heads, and it gives you something concrete to feed back when the market discusses where standards could improve.
3. Measure adoption, not just compliance
A message can pass every validation rule and still be reworked by hand further down the chain. That’s compliant, but it isn’t adopted. I’d track how often work needs touching after the standard has done its job, and let that number show where support is needed next.
Standards don’t change behaviour on their own. A standard sets the direction, but whether it sticks depends on the people using it every day.
If you’re working through a standards or modernisation project and would like to compare notes, I’d be happy to talk. You’ll find more on my website: https://www.buondrius.com/resources
Or send me a message any time: sven@buondrius.com ✉️