Most large Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems develop in a piece-meal fashion. Their complexity and evolution is difficult to manage. They lack flexibility. This contrasts sharply with system design in the batch-wise processing industry, where flexibility has always had a high priority. In this industry, the S88 standard plays an important flexibilityenhancing role. The paper compares the two fields of technology and explores which standards’ characteristics increase system flexibility. It examines whether flexibility objectives in both fields differ, and what constitutes a ‘flexible standard’. Four standards’ characteristics turn out to be important: degree of specificity, level of abstraction, system level, and degree of simplicity. They seem to be a necessary condition for standards to create flexible systems, but whether they are a sufficient condition cannot yet be said.