Not just standard issue

With more than 30 years of industry experience, all but three of them with ACORD, Gregory Maciag has developed a broad knowledge and understanding of the role technology plays in the global insurance marketplace today.

Since taking over as President and CEO in 1994, his vision has positioned ACORD as a leader in standards development and enterprise solution support, and a strong proponent of interoperability of data standards for sharing insurance information across disparate platforms.

CXO caught up with Maciag to find out how he’s achieved this standing today and what his experience in the financial services and with leading business in general has taught him about succeeding as a CIO in business today.

First off, I pose the question of innovation – the holy grail of all businesses seeking to stay afloat in a highly competitive market. “Like most business, you don’t close the shop when you need to modernise,” says Maciag, highlighting the need to continue to service your customers. “Technology is always changing and improving and companies need to leverage these innovations to be competitive in today’s marketplace and to grow their business.” And integrating that technology is, and should, be a normal part of doing business today. “SOA and web services are just two examples of how companies are using new tools with either new or legacy/ heritage systems. It takes leaders with vision, with know-how, and with knowledge of both IT and business to balance stability and innovation.”

ACORD is not a business per se but rather a standards body, but still I’m interested to know how Maciag approaches the challenge of balancing progression with keeping things running smoothly. Giving a little more background to how ACORD works, Maciag says: “We are a member-based organisation and are guided by our membership and the industry as a whole. We are charged with supporting ACORD standards and with handling all the day-to-day activities. However, our board of directors devotes most of its time to the future of the industry.” He adds that, at the same time, the Standards Committee handles most of the ongoing work, while also planning for the future of standards. “In effect, our process is designed to do both, so we budget our time and resources accordingly. It is essential to us as a standards development organisation that we balance and integrate old and new. One of the roles of standards is to provide that foundation for rolling out new technology and maintaining existing systems.”

And yourself, as CEO? “I work with all the constituencies – our Board, our committees, our members, and our staff – to ensure we focus on our mission while having a vision for the future. We share a common goal, a common purpose, and a common mission.”

Working with people in all corners of the organisation, it’s unsurprising then that when asked what he has found most memorable and rewarding in his job, he cites the people. “What I’ve learned is that it is all about the people. It’s about member participation, an involved board, and engaged committees. And it’s about working as a group to propel the industry forward and make innovations realities.” He adds: “Associations are more like communities than businesses and what we do is the result of a collaborative process,” adding that working with an open-minded board of directors has meant being able to accomplish much more than the typical non-profit association. “We truly have pushed the envelope, and since our growth over the past decade has been huge, it’s difficult to fathom doing something different.”

In his role as CEO of an organisation at the heart of the insurance industry, Maciag must also come into contact with many CIOs. I’m interested to draw on that experience to see how he has seen that particular role evolve over the years, if at all. “Over the past few decades, the role of the CIO has changed in all kinds of ways with ups and downs along the way,” replies maciag. He reminds me of the ‘internet bubble’. “Today, IT is not only viewed as an expense (to be reduced), but as a conduit to reach new markets. And it has become impossible to separate business from IT when serving customers. IT may still be something that senior executives hate to talk about, but it is something they know they cannot live without. So bridging IT and business is a constant challenge. And in this flat world, we are now redefining the enterprise to include the value chain that delivers products and services.”

He adds that the CIO of years past is gone, and that today’s replacement requires vision, imagination and a willingness to take the lead on innovation. “It’s no longer a matter of knowing about cutting and bleeding edge technology,” says Maciag. “It’s about knowing the business and how, on an enterprise-wide scale, a new technology can solve business needs and generate business growth. CIOs are also facing new realities we never dreamed about including massive disasters, pandemics and rapid globalisation. A CIO has a lot more on his or her plate today.”

A considerable chunk of the technology that is providing that enterprise-wide impact today is related to efficient sharing of information, and nowhere more so than in the insurance industry. Maciag explains some of the challenges: “We still live in a world with too many technology and data silos inside organisations, which means it’s not always easy to get a full view of the customer or avoid re-keying data in various systems. A simple name or address change can require multiple changes across many systems.” He goes on to explain that ACORD Standards are now being used to help resolve those problems, organising working groups around enterprise deliverables and supporting new service oriented platforms that are emerging to address this ‘Polynesia’ of systems.

“Data is vital for the insurance industry. But how we communicate data between systems – internal or external – and with trading partners can make the difference between success and failure. This is even more vital with companies expanding across borders, spreading offices around the world.” He adds that this also leads to concerns about data reporting and regulatory compliance which has increased globally. “When you go global so do reporting requirements and that requires data.”

His final point to consider is that risk, which insurers need to efficiently aggregate from multiple locations. “Due to a lack of standards, data can vary between systems and between business partners delaying data delivery and complicating interpretation,” says Maciag. “This is vital information for corporate survival and using a common ‘lingua franca’ for such basic elements makes sharing not only possible but efficient.”

So how are organisations addressing these challenges and what technologies in particular are making an impact? Some, says Maciag, call it “organized common sense” while others call it SOA. “By any name, it’s all about doing something once and re-using it. And if you want to do that across the boundaries of your organisation, you will need ACORD industry Standards in place.” ACORD calls it the Standards Framework Strategy and it is beginning to create the foundation for the next generation of systems and platforms.”

But why, I ask, are standards so important? “What the ACORD Standards Framework does is create a common foundation across the industry while not impeding individual corporate business logic,” replies Maciag. “It doesn’t change how a company does business, but it does create that commonality that lets companies and systems communicate in the same language. Framework components like the Business Dictionary create standard definitions for terms we all use so that when you say premium and I say premium, we are both talking about the same thing. Before the dictionary, you could mean premium included taxes but I defined it without. Now we’ll all know what we mean.”