Or, in retrospect, maybe it is. The old adage that “we never forget” key life skills from an earlier time may have some instructive elements for CIOs to be aware of. And to beware of.
I recently really did return to riding a bike and, while there haven’t been any medical emergencies, it hasn’t exactly been what I’d call smooth. While I understand the concepts and the physics, the act of putting all the pieces together into a smooth and fluid motion that is safe requires more than just fond memories of an earlier time. It requires practice and a surprisingly high level of dedicated time to get it right. A success metric built around the phrase “didn’t crash” seems to be dubious at best.
My wife recently took up the piano again with very similar results. Knowing where the keys are is helpful but not enough to make visions of Carnegie Hall dance in anyone’s head.
All of which, of course, then begs the question about how an insurance carrier can best go about selecting and hopefully implementing a new core system. The reality is that for many carriers this is something that they have very limited recent practical experience with, even if they have some vague recollection of the key steps. There’s no muscle memory that they can rely on or institutional capacity that has been recently exercised in order for them to have a leverage able asset. Once again, “didn’t crash” is a pretty low success bar to achieve. For many carriers, making these kinds of investment decisions are only pursued a few times in the course of a generation, so thinking that there’d be notable carryover from one experience to another would really stretch credibility.
Beyond that lack of recent experience, the changes in technology from one era to another can also add daunting new level of complexity to the issue. I also learned this the hard way when rekindling the interest in biking. It turned out that all of my experiences were rooted in the 1980s and 1990s — the technology has changed dramatically since then, creating a multi-dimensional learning event. Unless my goal was to optimize around solutions that are 30 years old, thinking differently and being open to outside influences proved to be pretty important elements for building to ultimate success.
For carrier CIOs, finding a way to gain both organizational muscle and institutional knowledge fast is also a critical factor for success. As increasing numbers if carriers across a range of lines of business are finding, a system strategy the addresses replacement of core capabilities is a logical enabler for future success. It isn’t just for P&C anymore.
To that end, using a process like what Novarica offers our advisory clients is a way to both speed up the selection process and to reduce the risks associated with these initiatives. The experiences built up over many efforts across multiple carriers helps to position these assets to be immediately leveraged for success. The idea of “didn’t forget” something is rather different from “didn’t stop doing”.
As exciting as “on the job training” can be, the IT equivalent of open heart surgery is likely not a practice with an appropriate risk/reward profile.
This blog has been reprinted with permission from
Robert McIsaac is a principal focusing on life insurance, annuities and wealth management at Novarica.
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