Insure Think

Allstate pursues “synchronized thinking” toward technology.

Industry executives share their perspectives in a recent survey.

Shares typically are seen more as helpful information from a friend than as brand messages.

Simpler, faster, better and cheaper — four words that may reshape insurance systems.

As the digital revolution continues to progress, insurers must embrace and harness the power of technology.

There are a range of application types that probably should be moved to the cloud simply because they are commoditized, routine functions that are best handled by someone else.

IT will be required to develop the robust systems and data environment to perform and analyze risk metrics in tight time frames. There's a regulatory train coming, and IT needs to stay ahead of it.

An examination of case studies point to a handful of paths insurers can take toward innovation.

ROI is often too difficult to explain in dry techie terms.

Without adequate storage, there is no big data.

For many, modernize or die is the rallying cry. But, what are the real results?

Working together, agents and carriers can realize data validation, faster turnaround, no month-end reporting and other straight-through processing benefits.

For many insurers, the road seems to begin with beefing up their data analytics.

Spring is almost here. It is natural for insurers to focus on growth. In the past, the growth cycle was fueled by new products, an expansion of agencies or reaching new geographies. Today’s growth fuel flows in the opposite direction – from consumer demand, through the product channels and into product development. The technological wave that has fostered channel development is improving insurer response time and promoting growth – if insurers are willing to think transformationally. (For a good definition of transformational thinking vs. legacy thinking, see my first blog.)

Does the rise of virtual work mean more stress and overwork?

Advanced Web architecture is particularly crucial in the insurance industry given the potential for enhanced customer self-service.

The data deluge presents many challenges, from the purely technical to process- and change-management issues to outright cultural and sociological impacts.

Esurance's post-Super Bowl commercial polarizes pundits.

One out of five companies now consider themselves to be mobile enterprises. Here's how they did it.

All companies should have adequate controls that minimize points of entry to their private information.

The ticker tape, invented by Thomas Edison at the age of 22, should have been a sign to all other industries. Investors would do anything to keep information and money flowing…including keeping their technology up to date. One would think that an insurer’s desire to reduce risk and hold onto reserves would also steer them down the road toward cutting-edge information technologies.

Insurers should never lose sight of the essential principles that are important to managing the business.

Technology is an increasingly important motivator for strategic acquisitions in the insurance industry.

The tools and methodologies for cloud security are readily available.

While agents and carriers have significantly improved the flow of data, carriers that opened a path for clients to log directly into their proprietary websites presents a problem.

Across the industry, substantial differences exist in claims management processes, and many insurers could realize significant benefits by applying new techniques and technologies.

With the opportunities of varied distribution channels, insurers are starting to be much more granular in their view of the customers.

Over the past year, MetLife has made advancements in using data to find IT talent and create a 360-degree view of its customers.

Data analytics is a potent tool for bolstering carriers' relationships with agent networks.

Cloud can either divide or unite companies. When united, enterprises achieve great agility and innovation.

Either way, insurers need to ensure that they offer professionals great places to work and learn.

Good underwriting is the key to a profitable book of business for an insurer. Underwriting profitability is an important financial measure, and is flanked by other typical key performance indicators used to measure underwriting effectiveness such as the number of new policies, percentage of revenue from new policies, customers and products, underwriting speed, reduced loss ratio, and the ease of doing business.

Senior business leaders everywhere, and even boards of directors, are trying to determine the best ways to deal with big data at their organizations. Here's a look at the factors to consider when planning your big data strategy.

The relationship between agent and carrier is a leading factor in not just the success of a PAS transformation, but in the success of the business' as a whole.

The reason excellent customer experience is hard for so many insurance companies? Legacy technology infrastructure.

Insurance today offers a lesson in economics. Traditional product development (supply) is not meeting modern consumer needs (demand). The result is a loss of potential revenue. What is needed is ‘transformational thinking’. (For a definition of transformational thinking and legacy thinking, see my first blog.see my first blog.)

The general manager of usage-based insurance says predictive models are the "secret sauce" that gives the company a competitive advantage in the space.

Insurers are ready to design digital solutions that change the industry into a continuous, predictive, risk management service.

Cloud is cheap up front, but full of hidden costs. Here are eight potential "gotchas"

APIs are the new big thing for technology innovation, and they literally are everywhere.

Technological advances are generating vast new sources of data that can assist carriers with better decision-making.

Five strategies that insurers are using to guide their social media efforts.

Mobile and cloud accelerate the evolution of ECM tools.

Carriers and agents have made significant progress in improving the sales process, but there’s still a long way to go.

Examining the importance of change management in a PAS transformation.

Life and annuity carriers have made significant strides in transforming from legacy to modern policy administration systems.

Cloud may replace many on-premises functions.

We have to shed legacy thinking in order to start thinking transformatively. Legacy thinking is not just about legacy systems; it is also about processes and people. (For a good definition of legacy thinking, see last week's blog .) How you think about the roles of people inside and outside your organization can lead you toward or away from organizational transformation.

As we enter 2014, we’re ready to design solutions that change insurance from a backward-facing, financial indemnity product to a continuous, predictive, risk management service.

With big data and machine learning tools and algorithms, the possibilities are endless.

Insurance companies should look to their high-transaction cousins when it comes to mobile strategies.

Insurer and tech giant have made separate announcements that should be of interest to the insurance industry, especially those pursuing insurance telematics programs.