Now that XBRL-compliant financial reports are a reality for just about all companies, we will be looking for interesting applications built on XBRL-tagged data. So far, we've seen most companies focus more on compliance than the actual benefits that might flow from tagged data.

This state of mind may continue as the second phase of compliance--which may be trickier--looms large. At some point, we would hope that more companies realize the power of this data standard. Brokerage firms and mutual funds companies, it would appear to us, are in good position to develop all sorts of new applications that would go over well with their clients. Heck, they may even be able to charge for such applications. A techie with an entrepreneurial mind might come up with some he could market over the Net to lots of people.

So far, we haven't been wowed by what we've seen. But in a good sign, more people are thinking along the lines of better applications for internal use. It may be seen as a bit self-serving, but a recent survey by Edgar Online has found that "XBRL data will significantly advance analysis, particularly regarding industry research, performance benchmarking and investment decisions."

So far, industry analysis, benchmarking and equity investment decisions are the most popular uses of data: 74 percent use data for industry analysis, 51 percent for benchmarking other companies, 40 percent for analyzing equity investment decisions and 30 percent for evaluating mergers and partnerships. To be sure, there are many companies at which compliance is exactly that-a burden more than anything useful. Hopefully, that will change.