If you couldn't make it, attend one of the smaller events PISCES will be announcing soon.

 

One Chinese proverb is: “May you live in interesting times”. Another is: “Better to be a dog in a peaceful time than a man in a chaotic period”. Well, we are all living in interesting times now.

 

You are probably all pre-occupied with decreasing volumes, cost-cutting and reducing overheads. Colleagues mention PISCES standards, but you don't know what they are or what they are for. You will look into them, but they are way down on a list of priorities.

 

You should have attended the Conference! It would have provided you with the answers. The overall theme was Survive and Thrive. Metaphor or cliche, the point was that not only are PISCES standards proving the test of time, but their users are reaping the benefits.

 

Speakers underlined the importance of standards, and argued they should form an essential part of business strategy. I attended the session called The Future of Conveyancing Needs IT, where Arlene Adams, of IRIS Legal, covered this. Paul Albone, of TM Property, and Paul Clark, of d3legal/Dickinson Dees, spoke on how they are exploiting the Search and HIPS standards.

 

Mick Flynn and Richard Dace, both from Trace, and Andrew Marlow, from APB, demonstrated the benefits in the Real World Applications of Portfolio Information Exchanges session, showing a data export and import between two vendor products. In the same session, Richard Collins, of St Martins, told how PISCES standards are an essential driver for efficiencies in his company.

 

An unusual use was provided by First Title, who talked about how the Lease Standard could be used for Title Insurance.

 

Chris Lees provided evidence from his work with Calvis’s customers that the claims made by PISCES are true. The return on investment figures he gave were remarkable.

A session on e-Conveyancing was provided by the Land Registry and Registers of Scotland. Paul Westmore, of the Land Registry, talked about the Business Gateway Project and their plans to develop PISCES Standards for e-Registration. Charles Keegan, of the Registers of Scotland, demonstrated their current live e-registration system, ARTL, and discussed their involvement in the PISCES Standards. This is all the more relevant, as PISCES are about to launch an e-Registration workgroup.

 

We also heard from Bruce Kellog, of the Appraisal Institute and OSCRE board chairman, Chris Brown, of Argus, and Peter Linkletter, of Public Works & Government Services, Canada (PWGSC) and OSCRE US vice-chair, how OSCRE US is going great guns in the Americas.

 

There were also presentations and discussions on more peripheral subjects. For example, Tony Coates, of Document Engineering Services, explained why open standards are the key to helping small businesses avoid vendor lock-in and allow them to take control of their business data. Peter Brown, of Pensive S.A. and OASIS, talked about standards and interoperability, and indicated why the PISCES model for the development of standards is a good one. Stephen Mason, a barrister and author, gave an informative talk on legal aspects of electronic signatures.

 

One message is clear - our standards are a good way to not just cope with these difficult times, but to survive and thrive in them!