Apple announced the new iPad 2 recently and proclaimed the start of the post-PC era. This is part cunning marketing ploy and part an insightful view on today’s average consumer. There was a time when people were screaming for more speed, more memory, more power, but, frankly, those screams now sit only with an elite few with special requirements. Today the machines are fast enough for most, having access to information, the right applications and an ever easier to use interface are most important.
Increasingly computing tasks are no longer being done on desktop machines—even full-size laptops are losing ground. Today, many common computing tasks are being done on mobile computing platforms. Storage of large files and compute-heavy tasks are moving to unseen, hosted servers or cloud infrastructure. The man on the street consumes these services, using whatever device is closest at hand, and most appropriate to the task.
Increasingly, staff entering insurance companies and consumers of insurance will follow this trend. There will be no patience for slow software, no perseverance for software that isn’t easy-to-use and an expectation that they can interact with the insurer in a way that works for them.
It may be some comfort to CIOs that in this new era, the best software and experience will not require an arms race upgrading to the best hardware available every two years. For insurers and vendors of insurance software this announcement forewarns of a raising of the bar, of expectations of insurance software in the future that allows agents, producers, underwriters and consumers of insurance to use their device of choice and still find an intuitive and easy experience.
For more information on our views on mobile and apps have a look our report
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Craig Beattie is an analyst in Celent's London Research Group.
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