Insurance carriers continue to be in an acquiring state of mind, and that can mean both challenge and opportunity for a carrier's IT department. While business analysts might look at how much a book of business will mean to a carrier's bottom line, technology professionals have to examine how well the new systems can be integrated so the real gain of an acquisition–more revenue and lower expenses–can be achieved.

Keith Sievers, senior vice president and CIO of Kemper Auto and Home Group, a Unitrin company, asserts there are two key issues his company examines when considering a merger or an acquisition. The first is how quickly Kemper can move the new business to the Kemper systems. "In the insurance world, the longer an acquisition takes, the less business there will be to roll over," he says.

Insurance carriers can't look at the technology alone because the newly formed company has to take into account the culture of the insurer being acquired alongside the culture the larger entity wants to create with the two combined companies, according to Janeen Blanton, managing director of consulting firm Appix. "It's not always just about the technology," she says. "You have to make the business people of both companies happy and meet their needs."