Ubiquity First

Why the future of interoperability isn't a better standard. It's a flexible network

Spoiler for my keynote in an hour, but networks are about ubiquity.

There's an obsession in this industry with the nuances of technical standards - FHIR vs CDA, Direct vs XDR, OAuth vs SAML. These are important! But they are downstream of the real factors that matter.

B2B networks are first and foremost judged on ubiquity. The reliability of a ubiquitous solution beats the functional advantages of a technically superior one. Fax, phone, SMS - they are all ubiquitous. It can be reliably assumed that everyone is participating and can be reached.

Beyond that, flexibility matters. The aforementioned analog networks are infinitely flexible to unique payloads, edge workflows, and unplanned nuance. That flexibility comes from their predigital nature - they are reliant on humans for that flexibility. But that is their superpower! Digital networks today are not flexible - they are only as good as their defined use cases.

Lastly, cost matters. Cost of infrastructure, cost of manpower, cost of the standards in play. But we will inherently choose costly networks that are analog, that use older standards, that are ancient, if they are ubiquitous.

AI changes things in two ways here, because AI is flexible: