Joe McKendrick

Hyper-social product development and innovation are the next frontier for insurance companies.

How do increased automation and the advent of “swarms” fit in an industry that seriously values its personal interactions and relationships?

Perhaps the answer is to take user-empowered networking and secure it with user empowerment.

A key benefit of having a common MDM repository is enhanced customer support and increased customer loyalty.

There are many avenues open for insurers to either migrate or modernize legacy systems to bring them up to code.

Compliance only seems to be stepping up, as governments require more information and accountability from enterprises.

Containerized data centers may be a viable option for insurers that want to keep their servers in-house, while keeping their purse strings tight.

Employing business transaction management practices is a good starting place.

Definitions and interpretations aside, an effective SOA deployment can lay the groundwork for cloud formations.

Many insurers are now securing their databases by "data masking," which removes confidential data elements and replaces them with usable, fictitious data.

Social networking and BPM could create a new approach to collaboration across organizations.

Some think mobile devices are the rising stars while PCs are legacy toast. But is that true for insurers?

Effective deployment of information technology will be a difference-maker for insurers.

Imagine the benefit of agents logging in and accessing application processing or customer verification services, or internal departments helping with claims processing or adjusters in the field.

The insurer believes an analytics-based strategy is the future of customer relationships.

No prior IT architecture initiative has had an impact as positive or broad-reaching as SOA.

Effective data management and data quality are no longer “nice to have” options.

However, we now have new means and methodologies to add to our toolboxes.

Insurers are finally starting to stand up and take notice of Lean IT, which has been a staple in the manufacturing world for years.

While it doesn’t make sense for insurers to hand over critical systems to third-parties, there are many other processes that can be handed over without worry.