All around the world, many companies, and indeed, entire industries,
are advocating XML as the business language of the Internet.
XML technology can be used to code the content in electronic documents
so that information can be exchanged among business partners, for
example, without confusion. It’s hailed as the foundation for Web-based
commerce.
Several world standards organizations, including the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS), are developing and recommending various
standards for XML that will encourage adoption.
Because the exchange of commercial data frequently happens among
members of a specific industry, such as banking or retail, XML
standards are being developed on an industry-by-industry basis. Gartner
Group estimates that so far, about 200 initiatives have been launched
to create XML standards tailored to 55 industries. And even though the
standards to be adopted are variations suited to particular industries,
the intent is the same: create a common protocol so that business
partners can easily share information and conduct transactions online,
driving down costs and reducing lag-time.
As an example, let’s consider how XML standards can help the real
estate industry, which is seeing tremendous growth in the use of the
Internet to conduct business. Imagine a prospective homebuyer is
contemplating job relocation from Atlanta to Houston, and he needs to
identify properties to visit on a future trip to Houston.
Under the present real estate system (which has yet to fully implement
XML-enabled applications), it would take many steps for the prospective
homebuyer to retrieve purchasing information. The prospect initially
might search the Internet for Houston real estate sites. Once on a
site, he could review basic information on various properties such as
square feet, number of rooms, and possibly pictures or virtual tours.
Since addresses are not typically listed on such Web sites, the buyer
would need to contact a Realtor to determine the address of property in
Houston.
If the buyer wants to check out local tax rates, that requires an
additional step. Looking for financing is also a separate Internet
search.
Each of these steps is separate, because the computer systems of the
various sources are not integrated.
Business leaders in the real estate industry recognize this is not an
optimal way to do business. Therefore, efforts are under way to tie
together the various aspects of home buying, using standard XML
applications. This one-stop shopping might go something like this:
From Atlanta, our homebuyer could tune in to a nationally supported
site such as Realtor.com. While he is online, the applications would be
working together in the background to provide many services
simultaneously. For instance, the buyer could search the realtor
database of properties and take virtual tours of properties he is
interested in. He could access complete tax information on any given
property since the application would be connected to public databases.
In addition to this information, the software could provide the forms
needed from the State of Texas computer databanks, as well as any other
appropriate documentation such as contracts, notices, addendums and
waivers. The buyer could even elect to go through a comparative
analysis with his agent online in Houston, and do everything else
necessary to purchase a home, all without ever having to visit the
property in person. The real estate industry is moving in this
direction, and this reality is around the corner with the help of XML.
Chances are your industry is also heading in this direction.
