The difficulties raised by the lack of interoperability within information systems are of two kinds:

• The ever-increasing variety of systems, devices, applications to be made to work together, each having its own interface (API) with its own formats, commands, parameters…
• The fracture between digital systems and their users: each solution has its own graphical interface, its dashboard, its dedicated application… The number of applications to load on a smartphone becomes excessive and often complicates the work of users.

To make all these elements interoperate, it is necessary to have a common language that is rich, scalable and durable. A first solution would be to define a posteriori this universal language; this is what many standardization bodies, manufacturers’ groups, etc. are working on.

Agora proposes another way: to generalize the use of the natural language, the one that humans have collectively defined and developed. Indeed this one presents many favorable characteristics:

• Rich, it allows to place commands (“open the door”) and to make requests (“what is the CO2 level?”);
• Flexible, it adapts easily to new situations (if you can do it, then you can say it);
• Intuitive, it allows many modes of expression: learning a language consists in mastering the rules of assembling words, not in learning “by heart” all the possible sentences (in almost infinite number);
• Natural, it reduces the gap between technical solutions and their users;
• Durable thanks to its fluidity, it is not about to go out of fashion, and its lifespan will be far superior to all technical standards and conventions;
• Common, it is the property of all and belongs to no one.