ACORD and MIB Inc. Announce Alliance to Promote ACORD XML Standards

PEARL RIVER, NY, August 22 –ACORD, the insurance industry's non-profit standards developer, and MIB Inc., the voluntary association of nearly 600 life insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada, have announced a strategic alliance to promote industry adoption of ACORD's XML for Life Insurance standards in IT architecture. ACORD XML is the industry-specific standard of XML technology, which provides a generic method of processing and transferring data via the Internet.

"Having ACORD and MIB work together to promote the adoption of data standards within the life insurance industry should benefit both organizations and the industry as a whole," said David Olson, MIB technology visioneer. "We've worked with ACORD for more than a year, providing input to their standards development process so that MIB and its member companies can realize the benefits of standardized data communication as soon as possible."

Adoption of ACORD XML standards by the industry can result in significant benefits, says Susan J. Ousey, ACORD senior vice president. "ACORD's relationship with organizations like MIB provides the industry with a ubiquitous e-business environment that puts technology in the background and allows insurance providers to concentrate on products and service."

Robert L. DiAngelo, chief information officer of MIB, noted that "Since MIB exchanges information with nearly 600 insurance carriers and information providers, anything that helps standardize information exchange is important to us and to our members. The data standards ACORD has developed represent the best set of standards available to the life insurance industry today."

Tana Sabatino, group manager, Life Insurance, ACORD, said, "We can eliminate several time-consuming and expensive steps if we all use the same standards. Today an insurer must sometimes send data in different formats for every service provider it deals with. By using the same XML standards, the information transfer can take place seamlessly without any re-keying or reformatting. By using the same standards and the same language, the industry will be able to expand its e-commerce capabilities across the board."

Both ACORD and MIB are taking steps to promote the adoption of the new standards within the industry. MIB, which handles thousands of information transfers with its member companies each day, plans to incorporate ACORD XML for Life Insurance standards for its existing MIB interface, even as it plans for the eventual deployment of a full XML system.
ACORD also has underway a project to develop standard forms for electronic life insurance applications so that the industry can use a common form as well as have a common data communication standard.

"The important thing is to have the common industry-wide standard," said MIB's DiAngelo. "By participating in the standards development process, we're helping to ensure that the industry will realize the maximum benefit."