The changing meaning of Policy

05 September 2011

In the 18th Century classic, Moll Flanders (written by Daniel Defoe, perhaps more widely known for writing Robinson Crusoe. We recommend Moll Flanders – much more fun!), the word ‘policy’ is used to mean ‘ambition’ ‘aim’ or ‘intent’. Many of Moll’s declarations are stated as her ‘policy’. Nowadays, we tend not to use the term in relation to personal ambitions, but rather to political or group aims or rules. We don’t say that our policy in relation to, let’s say, shopping, is this, or that our policy towards shoes is that.

Well, perhaps that will change, judging by the ubiquity that the word has now attained in the telecoms industry. If the policy framework does start to become part of the standard nuts and bolts of the network, and if the vision of individual – personal – policies does get realised, then we may all soon be talking about the policies that apply to our service, rather than the package that we bought. Policies will become ours not theirs and our whole concept of our relationship with service providers will change from one based on a particular bundle or package we sign up to, to one based on the services we need, when we need them and the ability to request additional services when we want.