The evolution of a Process

Interface -> Interoperate -> Flow. That's the gist of what makes a system go from local to global. You have to speak the same language - interface - before you can work together as a culture - interoperate - and have a smooth, efficient, cross-functional machine - flow. Each of these terms encompasses hundreds of thousands of people doing different jobs to make it all work in sync.

The financial sector is a step ahead of the rest. Financial Times says a model for direct trading across global borders is projected towards the end of the year, mainly because the interfacing component is coming together quickly:

"SEC staff have been working on a proposal for “mutual recognition” between the SEC and other regulators that would allow the US watchdog to rely on foreign regulators’ standards as US investors trade abroad...

...As part of the new SEC approach, a foreign exchange would be allowed to install a trading facility on the desk of a US broker, provided that the exchages’ home-country regulators’ rules were deemed “comparable” to the SEC’s."

There is a huge demand for this type of service:

"The policy shift, backed by SEC chairman Christopher Cox, has been prompted by the increasing appetite of US investors for foreign securities.

Nearly two-thirds of American investors have holdings in non-US companies, a 30 per cent increase from five years ago."

The odd thing to note here is that while you must interface first before you can interoperate, the demand for interoperability - the desire for culture change - is what leads to interfacing - the desire to speak the same language.

It's what the education and health sectors are lacking. Parents have to want to have the same standards across all public schools, patients have to want to have their records be available everywhere. This isn't as personally sensitive as money, so either we don't care or we're not being informed about the potential of possibility.

At least someone's trying to bridge the GAAP.