The official birth of the council came during WednesdayÆs annual Standards Forum at Sibos, and was presented in a roundtable discussion to prospective members by founder, George Pilakis, chief information officer, head of technology, payments systems at ANZ. Pilakis used the forum to present his ideas, unveil the councilÆs initial agenda and take suggestions and questions from the floor.
ôStandards are very different to what they were 20 years ago, even 10 years ago,ö says Pilakis. ôIn todayÆs world of standards, market practice dictates that there are multiple standards by industry and region, multiple domains of users, and multiple working groups. To keep up with all the new developments and to educate the region, I felt it was time that Asia-Pacific had its own council to address standards regionally.ö
Pilakis mapped out the councilÆs initial objectives. He says the newly formed group will create regional awareness of global standards and ensure that businesses are prepared and understand the impact of new standards. Secondly, it will undertake frequent impact analysis on new market infrastructure initiatives. Thirdly, the Asia-Pacific Standards Council will also use its clout to leverage opportunities and align with individual country standards. Finally, its role is to give the region a greater voice in groups such as SWIFT and ISO.
ôIt is important that we are involved with groups like SWIFT and ISO and play a role in raising Asia-Pacific to a level of standards understanding comparable with other regions,ö says Pilakis. ôWe will also undertake a stocktake assessment of what is relevant to this region and promote understanding of global standards from a local perspective.ö
The next step for the Asia-Pacific Standards Council will be populating its ranks with industry experts in the region. It will also look to form links with national member groups (NMGs), APAG and other standards groups.
ôThe goal of the council is not to build standards, but to ensure that we are involved in and understand all the new standards developments globally,ö says Pilakis. ôWe plan to hold our first meeting in March 2007 and get a better idea of what level of understanding is out there and what the real issues are in the Asia-Pacific.ö
The new group is currently welcoming applications for membership at Sibos and can be contacted directly via [email protected].
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