NCC Members have free access to this Guideline on the Principia website.

ICT interoperability is what your customers want. It's what you want too. ICT interoperability takes some of the angst and uncertainty out of the changes we're all having to make. IT suppliers are ambivalent towards interoperability. Why make it easier for a customer to switch supplier? Better to ask, How can I lock them in to me?

The issue of 'interoperability' vs 'lock-in' has always been around. What changes is the balance of influence between those wanting options and those wanting restriction.

This guideline assesses the current state of balance, looks at who's in the ascendant and who's in retreat and tries to come to view as to whether there is permanent change afoot or just another swing of the pendulum.

• ICT interoperability is what your customers want, it's what your business needs and inevitably it will take some of the angst and uncertainty out of change.
• The internet and the web have permanently changed the technical environment within which issues of interoperability should be considered.
• Interoperability offers new solutions to the old inter-system linking challenges, ultimately a new level of customer service driven by a more process oriented business environment, which in turn services a more demanding customer.
• Strong customer driven interoperability frameworks are pushing towards the adoption of open standards.
• For customers of ICT suppliers, interoperability is undoubtedly a good thing and customers know it can be delivered to them.
• For suppliers, a focus on interoperability may have mixed benefits. On the one hand it breaks down lucrative customer 'lock-in' yet on the other it promises a larger overall market.
• More interoperability means less risk for the customer, which in turn means more customer confidence in IT investments, and ultimately more IT solutions sales.
• It's increasingly unacceptable for mass IT and mass communications technologies to not interoperate effectively.
• If we're all to realise the potential of truly interoperable systems then more interoperability will win out over less every time.