Design, collaboration, and standards...oh my!
Expanding on my point from last week, I thought this was a great example of how Microsoft embraces interoperability on multiple levels. In May we announced the Insurance Value Chain Architecture Framework v1.0 developed to foster efficiencies in cross-enterprise work flows for the insurance industry. More specifically, as the article states, the goal was to “help insurance companies save millions of dollars in post-purchase integration” for processing claims. Can you believe that many of the B2B workflows were still being done manually - through re-keying? Talk about inefficient and costly…Obviously there are better ways…
So how did we achieve Interoperability?
First and foremost, we looked at the business challenges through a collaborative effort…
“we created and hosted IVC integration labs in which industry partners came together to design and build integration scenarios and facilitate long-sought workflows…”
“Customers and partners are excited about it because it solves many of the problems related to post-software-integration pain. This is the next-level of solutions delivery, applications already tied together via Web services. Customer and partners can also use our IVC labs to jointly develop specific scenarios based on actual needs or specific pains…”
And we incorporated industry standards…
“Microsoft .NET Framework, XML Web services, and industry standards such as ACORD”
And finally, industry partners designed new, best of breed, applications…
“Within this framework, Microsoft partners are creating best-of-breed applications that help streamline insurance business processing.”
There you have it - Interoperability by design, collaboration, and standards.
And the best part? Existing infrastructure was leveraged, there was no need to replace it all with an open ecosystem (can you imagine that cost?), and the framework provides extensibility for future needs. A win-win if you ask me, all driven through a comprehensive interoperability strategy...
