Insurers to Increase Spending

After months and months of negative news about the economy’s effect on the insurers IT budgets, a report surfaces that U.S. insurer CIOs’ economic fears are receding as they plan for 2010 IT spending.

According to a new report from research and advisory firm Novarica, based on a survey of 50 insurer CIOs and senior executives during late July/early August, the focus will turn to supporting growth and improving operational efficiency for 2010.

"Fewer insurers are focused specifically on dealing with the economic crisis than in previous polls," says Matthew Josefowicz, director of the insurance practice at Novarica and lead author of the report, “US Insurers IT Spending and Budgets 2009-2010”. "Except for firms that suffered heavy direct losses, most insurers are more optimistic as they plan for 2010, especially midsize property/casualty firms."

According to the report, top projects for the rest of 2009 and 2010 include policy administration, business intelligence and claims. Some size/sector groups are also prioritizing agent portals, consumer portals, underwriter tools and workflow, and predictive analytics.

The report contains tables of more than 30 different project areas and the percentages of participants who cite them as a top-three project for 2009 and 2010.