Industry-Specific Support

XML has become the preferred language for the exchange of information over the web. The adoption of generic XML was the first step toward successfully connecting internal and external systems, trading partners, distributors or virtually any participant in the value chain.

The second step was to develop a common data model or schema that reasonably represented the common data elements and messages formats specific to an industry vertical (such as insurance, banking, or retail) or a functional domain (such as human resources). To that end, literally dozens of standards bodies have been formed to promote and facilitate the development of industry-specific standards.  They have been, for the most part, successful in developing those standards and coaxing their respective industries to adopt the standards.

The third step, and perhaps the most challenging, has been the practical implementation of the agreed-upon standards.  The fact is, that very few of the systems in use today can “speak” XML let alone speak the language or dialect of XML prescribed by the standards organizations.  There are a myriad of data formats, operating systems, programming languages, databases, computer platforms and communications protocols to contend with.  Compounding the problem, the standards themselves are constantly evolving to incorporate the requirements of their constituents. The standards “implementers” are often on different releases of the standard, have different interpretations, or sometimes just plain get it wrong.  And there can be competing standards.  Should an insurance company that is processing enrollments use ACORD XML, HR-XML, or an ANSI 834 standard?  All of this means that before trading partners can begin exchanging information, they must first have a dialog to agree on which “standard” they will use.

So while the standards organizations have done an excellent job of defining the standards, it is up to companies like PilotFish to provide the means to overcome the challenges and enable the actual implementation of the standards.  Only then will the “adopters” become “implementers” and thereby realize the many benefits of seamless integration of internal and external systems.

PilotFish products enable you to build, test, deploy, and monitor interfaces between any system(s) and any other system(s) regardless of their data format, platform, operating system, database, or communication protocol.  Messages can be transformed from any proprietary native format to any XML standard, from any XML standard to a proprietary format, or even from one XML standard to another.

Recently, several standards bodies implemented the PilotFish Validation Server to enable the automated validation and certification of member’s messages which dramatically reduced the amount of dialog required between trading partners before exchanging information.

And while the PilotFish products work across industries, special attention has been given to supporting the specific nuances of each industry standard.

So now that the standards organizations have defined the standard, take the next step, implement them and realize the benefits.