NEW YORK One of the ad industry's most complex and costliest problems -- inefficiencies in the ad-buying process -- became the focus of sharp debate at last week's American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Conference in Orlando, Fla.

At issue: frustration over how little impact new technology has had in solving the decades-old challenge of devising an automated system to eliminate the paperwork needed to implement ad buys.

Techniques for processing ads on digital platforms are even further behind the curve than traditional media, said Steve Farella, CEO of New York-based independent media shop TargetCast. "It takes too long, with too many people and too much money," he said. "It's crazy."

Some argue that technology is not the issue, and that the problem is more about inertia and the inability to get the industry to agree on standards. "Take any 10 media plans and there will be five different ways they define Monday to Friday," said Irwin Gotlieb, worldwide CEO of WPP's GroupM. "We have to come up with standardized ways of defining data."

Others believe technology is to blame because there's a need for open systems that are adaptable industry-wide. The use of closed proprietary systems makes the challenge more difficult, said Chris Rohrs, president of the Television Bureau of Advertising, which recently launched ePort in a bid to make spot-TV buys paperless.

Within the TV world, the largest third-party processor for media shops is Donovan Data Systems, which uses a closed system. But now Donovan says it plans to adapt its processing software to the ePort system over time. Rohrs said the move would be a "step in the right direction."

Steve Poulin, svp and group director of operations at MediaVest USA, said the industry "hasn't taken the standards issue seriously enough. A disproportionate amount of the work we do is non-value-added manual labor."

Starcom Media Group made headlines earlier this year when it switched from Donovan, which processes most of the ad buys for the major holding company shops, to start up MediaBank.

The SMG-Donovan split was not amicable. Tensions between the two parties mounted last year over contract renewal talks and SMG's frustration at Donovan's lack of a system for processing ads in the digital space. After SMG began talking to MediaBank, the agency's relationship with Donovan disintegrated altogether and they ended up in court last fall trading allegations of stealing trade secrets. The case is still being argued before arbitrators in New York.

Both Donovan and MediaBank unveiled new systems for processing digital media buys at the 4A's conference. The Donovan system has been in beta test for several months and will be available industry-wide in the second quarter. A source at one of the shops testing it said it had some "very good features, but at the same time is missing some things we'd like see incorporated into the system."

MediaBank hopes to give Donovan a run for its money. "We're in this for the long run," said company CEO Brad Keywell. "We're talking to everybody."

But so is Donovan and the company believes its new digital product will keep it the dominant player for years to come, said company founder Michael Donovan. "It was designed by agencies for agencies," he said last week. "It's reliable and scalable." Time will tell.