OpenDI Intro: Building the Future of Decision Intelligence
The OpenDI initiative fosters a vibrant ecosystem for decision intelligence (DI), supporting innovative research, a healthy vendor market, and better decisions worldwide. DI is a young discipline many see as the future integration of AI—a framework that starts with end user needs and fits data and technology within that context.
The Challenge: Fragmentation vs. Standardization
One of the biggest impediments to developing new disciplines like DI is fragmentation. The opposite—standardization—delivers substantial benefits including reduced costs, reduced risks, faster time-to-market for vendors, easier use of research resources, and simpler ways to create cross-organizational synergies. Ultimately, these factors lead to substantially greater value for people using decision intelligence technology.
Fragmentation Problem
Multiple entities building DI systems unaware of each other, using different approaches. This creates inefficiency, increased costs, and slower innovation across the industry.
Standardization Solution
Cross-industry standards that enable interoperability, reduce costs and risks, accelerate time-to-market, and create powerful cross-organizational synergies.
The Internet Revolution: A Lesson in Standards
Before Standards
Chat rooms, email, and connected computers faced massive friction. Different systems couldn't communicate effectively.
1980s/Early 1990s
Internet standards became widespread, enabling universal connectivity and communication.
Explosive Growth
The internet transformed society, making it easy to forget there was ever a time before standards existed.
Those who used early connected systems can recall the massive friction compared to today's seamless experience. Internet standards made a transformative difference, so profound that we now take universal connectivity for granted.
When good standards are built, technology markets explode.
Historical Examples of Successful Standards
NTSC/PAL Standards
Television broadcasting standards that enabled global compatibility and market growth across different regions and manufacturers.
TCP/IP & HTML
Internet protocols that made the web explode, transforming communication and commerce worldwide through universal connectivity.
DOCSIS
Broadband network standards that standardized cable modem technology, enabling widespread high-speed internet access.
Set-Top Box Standards
Specifications defining how devices communicate with televisions, creating seamless entertainment experiences.
These open interoperability standards specify how technology from different entities communicates, creating explosive market growth and massive benefits for technology buyers.
Decision Intelligence at a Crossroads
The Current Challenge
Today's decision makers have access to powerful tools—AI, analytics, machine learning, optimization, behavioral science—yet organizations struggle to integrate them effectively.
Many times, these methods are applied one at a time, driven by what's fashionable rather than what connects to actual decisions and outcomes.
The Opportunity
Decision Intelligence provides a decision-centered framework linking technology and data to actions and outcomes. By establishing shared standards, DI enables diverse methods and teams to work together around decisions—supporting planning, execution, and learning at scale.
This makes rigorous decision-making scalable, interoperable, and accessible beyond any single tool or technology wave.
Without a unifying framework, technologists and decision makers struggle to communicate.
Open Interoperability vs. Open Source
Open Interoperability Standards
Specify how technology from different entities communicates with each other. These are interface standards that define external communication protocols.
- Vendors maintain proprietary systems
- Only interoperation methods are open
- Protects commercial value
- Enables market competition
Open Source Standards
Make public the inside of technology boxes, revealing internal implementation details and source code.
- Full transparency of implementation
- Public access to source code
- Community-driven development
- Different value proposition
Key Distinction: OpenDI focuses on open interoperability standards, allowing vendors to create valuable proprietary systems while ensuring they can work together seamlessly.
The Convergence/Divergence Pattern of Technology
As technologies mature, they follow a predictable pattern: a creative "breathe out" period of experimentation followed by a "breathe in" convergence phase where cross-industry standards emerge. This pattern has repeated throughout technology history.
1
Divergence Phase
"Let a thousand flowers bloom" - creative experimentation with multiple competing approaches
2
Convergence Phase
Industry consolidates around open standards that enable interoperability and explosive growth
Building a Common Language for DI
For a standards project to succeed, we must start with a common language and shared understanding of system components. Just as the telephone network defined standard components—telephones, dialing mechanisms, signal transmission, central offices, and long-distance lines—we're doing the same for decision intelligence.
Define Standard Components
Identify the essential parts of a DI system that different entities can build and integrate.
Establish Communication Protocols
Specify how different components interact and exchange information seamlessly.
Enable Modular Development
Allow different organizations to specialize in building specific components while maintaining interoperability.
Foster Innovation
Create an ecosystem where vendors can innovate within their domains while contributing to the larger DI landscape.
The DI Reference Architecture
The OpenDI standard defines how each layer of a decision intelligence system communicates with others through an Orchestration component. This architecture provides the foundation for interoperable DI systems that different vendors can build and integrate.
Layered Architecture
Multiple specialized layers work together, each handling specific aspects of decision intelligence processing and analysis.
Orchestration Component
Central coordination layer that manages communication between all system components, ensuring seamless integration.
Interoperability Standards
Defined protocols specify exactly how each layer communicates, enabling vendors to build compatible components.
Note: More detailed versions of this reference architecture are currently in development. This high-level view provides the foundational understanding of DI system components.
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Join our vibrant community, explore resources, and contribute to the (r)evolution of Decision Intelligence.
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