Insure Think

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.

When you look towards the future and preparing for what may come, it is clear you need to examine the next generation technologies and the people who will lead the industry. IT-oLogy Trends 2013 took on both issues and gave us all a glimpse into tomorrow.

IT’s monsters can be slain, says former CIO with Aflac and Allstate, and current Perseus CEO Michael Boyle, but it’s going to take more transparency and a different mindset.

The prospect of AIG retaliating and escalating previous skirmishes with Berkshire Hathaway has already intensified downward pressure on rates.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor predicts a 24 percent increase in demand for professionals with data analytics skills during the next eight years.

Three key concepts of traditional waterfall development are disproved with successful agile operations.

Who's the Boss? Your customers. If you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will. Beneath all of these initiatives are strong core systems that provide the agility, flexibility, and capabilities to create a beneficial customer experience.

Three ways to assert IT's value and shift the perception among business leaders that IT is merely a cost center.

While many IT professionals would argue that lean, agile and CMMI are mutually exclusive, Guru Vasudeva, SVP and CTO of Nationwide, says otherwise.

USAA, a direct seller and one of the first insurers to adapt to social networking, is also, according to J.D. Power, the most trusted brand in the industry.

Some of the same data analysis technologies being used by Western governments are cheap enough to be employed by financial services companies as well.

Accurately and consistently estimating the costs of major IT projects is critical for an IT department's and CIO's credibility.

The wider market is potentially transitioning to a business model of managing multiple sources of outside capital.

Why do men and women behave and react differently in various business situations? Let’s look at the differences between the male and female brain.

You don't have to go it alone. The importance of partnerships has always been an essential part of business and life. There's no need to recreate the wheel and create who new divisions within your company when a partner is there to help you.

In a new survey, most IT executives give their organizations failing marks for handling disruptions.

A profile of some financial services companies that are using social networks to create new collaboration patterns with their customers, distributors and employees

To maintain a positive relationship, here's what should be accomplished when field reps visit the offices of agents.

Cheap mainframe servers that support private cloud computing could change the way insurers think about enterprise architecture.

Has the time arrived for specialist wholesale and reinsurance companies to examine their organizational structures and weed out redundant management and administrative costs?

Half of marketers surveyed for a new report agree that data is “the most underutilized asset” in their organizations, according to a new survey.

There are several questions to answer before you begin looking for C-suite help when it comes to technology and innovation.

Although it's a relatively new technology, SDDC could change the way data centers are funded, designed, provisioned and managed by extracting software and applications from hardware entanglements.

Security and integration are two of the four most important considerations when entering the mobile space or improving what you already have.

Big or small , claims happen. How you handle crises and customers, how quickly you respond, and how long it takes to resolve the claim make all the difference. You need to be sure that your claims operation from its core claims system to your call center, repair networks and more are up to the challenge and that you have a partner to support you and your business strategy.

Data virtualization holds a lot of promise for minimizing data center woes, but it needs to be taken one step at a time.

An outline of where and how insurers should be looking to use big data analytics throughout the enterprise.

Shouldn't digital be part of everyone's job description by now?

Insurance can be complicated and even the best-informed consumer wants advice — from family, friends and professionals. And that's where the opportunity for differentiation lays for insurers.

Passive observation and exploration are generally not enough in a complex business environment — innovation requires experimentation.

Portals have come a long way. They serve a wide range of stakeholders, from prospects to policyholders to distributors, adjusters and others. They are the go-to places for information dissemination and collaboration, creating an experience of easy to do business with them. If you aren't providing a portal to your customers and partners today, time is running out.

An insurer upgrades its data architecture and finds a competitive advantage through faster insights.

Whether it will get you closer to your career goal or you just need a change, there are six factors to examine before deciding to make a cross-functional move.

Five tips for developing an intelligent big data storage system.

When "modern era" computer systems were developed decades ago, many didn't realize that they would still be running insurers' business in the 21st Century. Developers hardly foresaw what was to come. To compete today, insurers have two options: patch or replace. Well there is a third … obsolescence.

The shift to digital means carriers must focus on sales and service portals, agency management and compensation systems.

The more an agency embraces technology and offsite/cloud storage of critical data, the better off they will fair.

Front-end systems and devices for customer engagement are getting more sophisticated, but back-end integration challenges are preventing insurers from taking advantage of them, survey shows.

Auto insurance today isn't as simple as it used to be "back "in the day". Technology has changed that paradigm, making it an all new high-tech ballgame! Telematics is here, it's real, it's growing, and you need to be ready for it.

A guide to get insurers up to speed in social spaces, which aren't going away any time soon.

Being a leader means remaining calm during stressful times. But does it come naturally or do we need to learn and develop it?

When insurers buy a new core system, they're not just buying the technology, they're buying an underlying model for how an insurer should operate.

Social media and digitization have made it easy to get closer to customers; the question is how to use that knowledge and access without becoming invasive.

Here are some practical steps carriers can take toward instituting a management program to support customer self-service.

Catastrophes are now a part of the New Normal. While there's nothing we can do to change the weather or other natural disasters, there are steps insurers can take to prepare themselves and their customers for what may come.

Insurers in the Software Business: The line between software providers and consumers is blurring