Insure Think

How to manage convergence in a global technology environment.

Tablet computers are becoming standard client computers, but there's still work to be done on the back end.

Vendor marketing tactics have escalated to a whole new level of insanity.

Microinsurance is a foothold to an underserved, untapped and fragmented market under the present business model.

Coming to an insurance business near you: predictive analytics.

Breakdowns in financial controls can be disastrous for insurers.

It’s time for insurers of all types to hop on the big data bandwagon or risk getting left behind.

At least 75 percent of CIOs in a recent survey report having a clear understanding of what their businesses need in terms of innovation — now companies need them to be able to act on that understanding.

At least 15 major insurers have dedicated Twitter accounts, including USAA, GEICO, Progressive, Allstate, Mutual of Omaha and Travelers.

Insurers understand enterprise risk more than anyone else, and that understanding should apply to their own IT operations as well.

While we can differentiate our service and products in many ways, data can still be standardized, sent, received and consumed in our respective systems without the need for re-keying.

New figures state that 59 percent of the Fortune 500 still have at least 1.6 hours of data center downtime per week, which translates to at least $8.5 million per year in losses.

Honest feedback from direct reports on managerial performance can be hard to get. But once it happens, it's like striking gold in more ways than one would think.

While most new capabilities employed by life insurers today are around mobility, focusing on better graphics and greater integration into the overall sales process, distribution innovation has been stifled.

Singapore now hosts a vibrant maturing reinsurance market with depth in expertise, capacity and reach.

A recent interview of two IT leaders from Nationwide makes it clear that insurers, which need to speed up product delivery, are particularly good candidates for DevOps.

The latest mile marker on the road to commoditization is being tested in supermarkets, malls, gas stations and auto dealerships.

A nasty new "ransomware" virus is reminding corporations that you can't educate users enough when it comes to IT security.

All too often companies end up with multiple people trying to solve components of the same problem, each with a different perspective on the relationships between the variables and what the problem really is.

It's easy to assume millennials always prefer digital channels for transactions, but such generalities don't always hold true.

There are several generational, technological distinctions that could drastically affect how your data operations are run in the future.

New technologies are creating new exposures to complex risks for agents and brokers.

Simple is better than complex is one of the primary lessons to be learned from the Obamacare website meltdown.

With their history and international reach as a foundation, deepening customer relationships is a fertile source of competitive advantage for the Lloyd’s market.

Advancements in telematics technologies, along with an 80-percent drop in hardware costs, are ratcheting up the industry’s interest in UBI. But will the payoff be there?

There are several examples of where algorithms can and should take over for human decision-making, but experience is starting to spotlight strategic decisions that can't be taken over by big data.

Why do 25 percent of CEOs, 65 percent of CFOs, 39 percent of COOs, and 41 percent of line of business heads not buy into the need for innovation?

Applications and software-defined infrastructures will likely highlight future, hopefully more successful, data consolidation projects.

The world is changing faster than ever and insurers need to be ready for what is on the horizon as well as for what's in the distance. How will personalized insurance packages, 3D, and other technologies transform your business? How can your vision and planning determine your future?

The costs of being settlers instead of pioneers goes deeper than numbers and efficiencies.

The world is changing faster than ever and insurers need to be ready for what is on the horizon as well as for what's in the distance. How will customer DIY, mobile, data & analytics, architecture & agility, and collaboration transform your business?

In a recent survey, the majority of mobile consumers said they would switch companies for a more accessible mobile channel.

A good number of C-suite execs say innovation is important, but they expect it to happen organically, as part of normal operations, according to Celent research.

The industry's absence from a pair of recent rankings serve as a reminder that in order to attract the best IT talent, insurers need to appear open to innovation and experimentation.

After a loss, some consumers who buy their policies online soon learn a hard lesson about the need and value of having an agent who is partnered with a top-notch carrier.

Insurers may have tons of data about a customer's lifestyle and requirements, but agents provide a depth of understanding that algorithms will never crack.

Change is occurring faster and faster but all you keep hearing is "BUT Insurance is Complex". The complexity should never be a barrier to innovation, but just the opposite - the driver for innovation. It's time to drop the crutch and embrace the change.

The landscape is littered with applications that were promising when they entered development, but as technologies have become "consumerized," state of the art is an even faster moving target.

Knowing file sizes, the volume of your application network, and plans for the future are on a list of tips and questions insurers should know and ask when considering a move to the cloud.

The balance of being innovative and adequately serving customers is a tricky one, but it's the latter that will make or break an insurer with this youngest demographic.

To compete in the health exchange marketplaces, health insurers are finding that effectively integrating and storing data, analyzing consumer data and precision pricing are essential.

Most enterprises with mainframe computers are quite happy with their systems, and have plans for their expansion. Still, mainframes have an achilles heel – the diminishing pool of talent that can write programs and run these machines.

Core competencies are those actions that define the uniqueness of your company and deliver the greatest value to your customers. As many insurers have found, partnering can be the best way of utilizing your capital and resources most effectively to lead to the desired outcome.

There were discussions on the subjects of automating for the sake of automation and delivering smaller projects, as well as a sense of optimism surrounding modernization efforts.

Many insurers already had counter-measures against such competitors in place, in the form of strong web-based offerings and strong agent networks.

The top 10 underwriting firms employ more than two-thirds of the underwriters included in a recent ranking of the top 50 underwriters.

Many app developers fear the mainframe, and mainframe operators are suspicious of apps — here's how to bring these two worlds together.

Flawed implementations often result in misconceptions that agile methodology is inadequate, when the true problem lies within the developmental stages, not within the methodology’s design.

For the past few years, one of the hottest terms has been digital disruption. It is often followed by agility, vision, change, infrastructure … and extinction. But what is it and what does it really mean for you and your company? First, a simple, concise definition: "We think of it, simply, as having to do with business models that are fundamentally challenged by the digital age, by the Internet, by advances in consumer technology," according to The Business Review.The reality is that the digital age has transformed our world, how we do business, and how we communicate. If you aren't changing and evolving to accommodate this new world, you face extinction making you a Digital Dodo Bird. Still remember Borders? How about Tower Records? Looked for the big red façade of a Circuit City lately? Does Pets.com ring a bell? The same holds true for specific technologies. When was the last time you bought film for your camera? Are those floppy disks still working for you? Remember the PalmPilot you couldn't live without? It isn't hard to think of those companies and technologies that vanished most likely due to an inability to plan, adapt, and change. And the list of companies warming up for extinction is updated online regularly. The world has changed dramatically and those who are not future-ready, who are not able to attack this evolving marketplace head on and not speaking to a new generation of customers may face the same fate. Just look at your kids … they are growing up with digital in their hands from the moment they can hold your smartphone to view a Mickey YouTube video. Their expectations are that digital is ubiquitous in their lives. The question is … is it ubiquitous in your company? If not, you are on the road to extinction!Ellen Carney, Senior Analyst at Forrester provided insights into digital disruption during our June Customer Advisory Board meeting. She showed that digital disruption is built upon digital platforms where devices lay the foundation, software builds the experience on top of it, and consumers believe it.David Smith, CEO for Global Futures and Foresight built on that information, stating that when we get new technology, most just do things differently with the technology. Those that innovate and yes … disrupt … do different things. Subtle difference in words, but massive difference in impact!This is the position that insurers face today. Many insurers are talking and planning for digitalization of their business by simply taking what they do today and making it digital. You had a paper policy, for example. Now it's an electronic document. They are doing things differently but it's really not a radical change. Future-ready insurers are really doing things differently —leveraging digitalization to positively impact all areas of the business. They are dramatically redefining everything from business models to distribution channels to how they service their clients. They are also gaining maximum advantage through new thinking, organizational change, new skill sets and innovative ideas to really disrupt and do different things. In fact, recent Gartner research indicates that during the last 12 months, digitalization has emerged as one the big transformation initiatives for insurers, focusing on customer-facing channels, improving customer experience and interactions to match this new insurance customer who is tech-savy, multi-tasker, social, and interactive. So what do insurers need to do to avoid extinction? They need to do different things!It begins right from the start when consumers want to find and price a policy. They use a search engine to find prices, reviews, and details about coverages. Then, they can compare, analyze, and buy a policy right on the Internet. They can also check and solicit opinions on social media while evaluating you as a vendor. Future-ready insurers are working to ensure their information is readily available online, they implemented SEO, they developed an easy to use and navigate portal, they monitored and addressed outstanding comments on social media, and they make it simple to purchase. They make it easy to do all of this on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Overall, they are doing things differently to adapt to the digital first world and feeding the beast that is our data-centric world.You need to be sure your digital environment, core business solutions and infrastructure accommodate these consumer needs or else they will go to someone who can service them the way they prefer. You need to have solutions that know your customers, provide customized views, and work together to combine all aspects of that person's account from policy to claims to status. Quick, easy access to all the information is essential. So do you do things differently to take full advantage of this digitalization? 1.Experiment and innovate with technology within a dedicated group2.Get to know your customers, their expectations and unique differences3.Look at other industries for inspiration … from Google to Amazon to FedEx4.Identify business functions that impact your customers5.Apply the experimentation of technology to do something different … to disrupt6.Seek feedback and assess the results, change, modify and don’t be afraid to failLike it or not, digital disruption is changing our entire world, our businesses, our influences, our expectations and yes … our choices. Your choice is how you deal with its impact. Time is running out and it's essential that you have the vision, plan, and solutions that can help you be future-ready. Because we all know this is just the first round of digital … with so much more to come. Future ready solutions must be agile and flexible to respond to the changing demands of our customers. In the end, you have two choices. You can be a future-ready, competitive and a leader in our industry or you can go the way of the legendary dodo bird. Avoid Being a Digital Dodo Bird

For the past few years, one of the hottest terms has been digital disruption. It is often followed by agility, vision, change, infrastructure … and extinction. But what is it and what does it really mean for you and your company? First, a simple, concise definition: "We think of it, simply, as having to do with business models that are fundamentally challenged by the digital age, by the Internet, by advances in consumer technology," according to The Business Review.The reality is that the digital age has transformed our world, how we do business, and how we communicate. If you aren't changing and evolving to accommodate this new world, you face extinction making you a Digital Dodo Bird. Still remember Borders? How about Tower Records? Looked for the big red façade of a Circuit City lately? Does Pets.com ring a bell? The same holds true for specific technologies. When was the last time you bought film for your camera? Are those floppy disks still working for you? Remember the PalmPilot you couldn't live without? It isn't hard to think of those companies and technologies that vanished most likely due to an inability to plan, adapt, and change. And the list of companies warming up for extinction is updated online regularly. The world has changed dramatically and those who are not future-ready, who are not able to attack this evolving marketplace head on and not speaking to a new generation of customers may face the same fate. Just look at your kids … they are growing up with digital in their hands from the moment they can hold your smartphone to view a Mickey YouTube video. Their expectations are that digital is ubiquitous in their lives. The question is … is it ubiquitous in your company? If not, you are on the road to extinction!Ellen Carney, Senior Analyst at Forrester provided insights into digital disruption during our June Customer Advisory Board meeting. She showed that digital disruption is built upon digital platforms where devices lay the foundation, software builds the experience on top of it, and consumers believe it.David Smith, CEO for Global Futures and Foresight built on that information, stating that when we get new technology, most just do things differently with the technology. Those that innovate and yes … disrupt … do different things. Subtle difference in words, but massive difference in impact!This is the position that insurers face today. Many insurers are talking and planning for digitalization of their business by simply taking what they do today and making it digital. You had a paper policy, for example. Now it's an electronic document. They are doing things differently but it's really not a radical change. Future-ready insurers are really doing things differently —leveraging digitalization to positively impact all areas of the business. They are dramatically redefining everything from business models to distribution channels to how they service their clients. They are also gaining maximum advantage through new thinking, organizational change, new skill sets and innovative ideas to really disrupt and do different things. In fact, recent Gartner research indicates that during the last 12 months, digitalization has emerged as one the big transformation initiatives for insurers, focusing on customer-facing channels, improving customer experience and interactions to match this new insurance customer who is tech-savy, multi-tasker, social, and interactive. So what do insurers need to do to avoid extinction? They need to do different things!It begins right from the start when consumers want to find and price a policy. They use a search engine to find prices, reviews, and details about coverages. Then, they can compare, analyze, and buy a policy right on the Internet. They can also check and solicit opinions on social media while evaluating you as a vendor. Future-ready insurers are working to ensure their information is readily available online, they implemented SEO, they developed an easy to use and navigate portal, they monitored and addressed outstanding comments on social media, and they make it simple to purchase. They make it easy to do all of this on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Overall, they are doing things differently to adapt to the digital first world and feeding the beast that is our data-centric world.You need to be sure your digital environment, core business solutions and infrastructure accommodate these consumer needs or else they will go to someone who can service them the way they prefer. You need to have solutions that know your customers, provide customized views, and work together to combine all aspects of that person's account from policy to claims to status. Quick, easy access to all the information is essential. So do you do things differently to take full advantage of this digitalization? 1.Experiment and innovate with technology within a dedicated group2.Get to know your customers, their expectations and unique differences3.Look at other industries for inspiration … from Google to Amazon to FedEx4.Identify business functions that impact your customers5.Apply the experimentation of technology to do something different … to disrupt6.Seek feedback and assess the results, change, modify and don’t be afraid to failLike it or not, digital disruption is changing our entire world, our businesses, our influences, our expectations and yes … our choices. Your choice is how you deal with its impact. Time is running out and it's essential that you have the vision, plan, and solutions that can help you be future-ready. Because we all know this is just the first round of digital … with so much more to come. Future ready solutions must be agile and flexible to respond to the changing demands of our customers. In the end, you have two choices. You can be a future-ready, competitive and a leader in our industry or you can go the way of the legendary dodo bird. Avoid Being a Digital Dodo Bird

Developers and operations workers tend to come from two different worlds — this has to change.

As consumers grow more demanding, insurers would do well to anticipate customer concerns and offer instruction on how to avoid them; but first, they need executive buy-in.