Our industry doesn't need a reminder of the financial pressures it faces as a result of the economic crisis of 2008/2009. Globally, insurance premiums totaled $4.07 trillion in 2009, down from $4.22 trillion the previous year, according to a recent Swiss Re sigma study. Nevertheless, the study found that in 2009, most countries' insurance premiums actually grew faster than their respective GDPs, and the industry's profitability and capital strength improved as financial markets recovered.
Still, the industry's overall financial health and relative stability belie the underlying challenges it faces. The global insurance marketplace is expanding at an accelerated rate, and this expansion portends a host of opportunities for organic growth. Yet, transformative shifts in demographics, culture and technology demands-both from within insurers' walls and outside them-are causing these companies to view their operational, development, risk management, governance and IT investment strategies differently.
In essence, we are becoming a younger industry, appealing to younger workers and customers who have high expectations for real-time, digital everything. While insurers have long excelled at using mathematics and technology to anticipate change and determine risk appetite, they now serve a new breed of customer, which may require a very different set of operational abilities. So we must quickly determine the optimum technology and processes necessary to meet the demands of the next new employee, agent or customer. Indeed, meeting this challenge may require acclimatizing ourselves at a rate of change previously unseen in our industry's conservative, risk-averse culture. Nonetheless, we must do it in such a way that enables safe and secure business transactions, meets regulatory compliance requirements and satisfies the ever-evolving cry for instant service. And to retain our industry's stalwart financial position, we must do it without losing sight of our core competencies and fundamental value to the marketplace.
And so it goes for this month's issue of Insurance Networking News, which has undergone some changes of its own. You'll note that the information in this issue is presented in a newer format, but conveys a familiar theme: Insurers across all lines of business are using technology in new ways to tackle underlying business problems. Given the pace of change buffeting the insurance industry, and technology's unique ability to help insurers meet its challenges, our editorial mission-connecting the business and technology communities-has never been more relevant.
We hope you agree.
Pat Speer
Editor-in-Chief
