A new global survey of insurance CIOs reveals them to be eager to invest in new technologies.
The report, conducted by independent technology consultancy
“While the CIOs we surveyed had mixed feelings about their IT budgets in 2011, confidence for 2012 is much higher,” said Barry Rabkin, Ovum insurance technology principal analyst. “Forty-seven percent expect their IT budgets to increase, and some by significant amounts.”
CRM systems are top priority, Rabkin said, with two-thirds of respondents indicating it as the area most likely to benefit from increased investment. “This commitment to increasing spend on CRM systems shows that the insurance industry is getting to grips with the need to understand customers better.”
Another area of new investment is cloud computing, with almost half of respondents saying their company has experimented with private cloud computing since 2010, or plan to begin to do so in 2011. “The insurance industry has a justified reputation as one that is generally slow to adopt new technologies, so our survey findings are surprising and encouraging,” Rabkin said. “The fact that many have already begun to take the first steps in the private cloud computing arena shows that they have grasped the potential benefits it can bring.”
Nonetheless, the survey revealed insurers still struggling with legacy technology and duplicative administration systems, with almost two-thirds saying they plan to keep all of the business functional systems in and 10% planning to add one more new system for each of the business functional areas.
