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Ron Guerrier was named CIO of Farmers Insurance in December, and says one of his main goals is elevating the role of technology within the enterprise. Here is his plan to do so, which he informally calls the 5 "E"s.
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Enable

Guerrier says the industry has to be "a little more innovative and keep up with what the consumer wants to do." Legacy platforms have limits, but he says he wants to get a point where "technology is not an inhibitor but something we can enable the business to do more with."
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Explore

Part of being more innovative, Guerrier adds, is being part futurist and exploring the art of the possible. "We have to do a good job/better job to explore what's next," he says. "For example, what does the internet of things mean to our industry and how are we prepared to incorporate that?"
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Engage

The next step is engaging all stakeholders throughout the IT development process, Guerrier says. "We don't want to work in stovepipes," he explains. "If one part of the IT team is working on something, are we looking across platforms? Are we engaging the business unit associated with a project?"
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Evangelize

The idea is to make IT a more trusted, valuable partner, Guerrier says. "We have to do a better job of evangelizing the value of IT," he says. "It's about, 'This is what IT can do for you if you're interested in making investment.'"
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Eliminate

Another practice Guerrier hopes to install is the ability to walk away from unproductive or outdated technology. "We want to eliminate waste in the systems," he says. "How do we continuously improve in sort of a kaizen process?"