Insurance customers in the United States know the value ofinsurance–both to protect their property against risk and as aninvestment tool–probably more than people in any other country.However, the soft market here has meant the U.S. is viewed as aless inviting place to do business than some of the growing marketsof the world, according to Scott Mampre, vice president ofinsurance with Capgemini Financial Services.

"The trend seems to be more of the U.S. companies trying to goglobal," indicates Mampre, rather than foreign companies enteringthe U.S. market. "Firms in Europe and other places recognize theU.S. has the highest level of insurance products, but they alsorecognize it's a mature market."

When a company goes into a mature market, its best hope is totake market share from the fringes. Although that still is anattractive strategy for American insurers operating in the U.S.,the worldwide trend tends to be more toward globalization andmoving into newer, faster-growing marketplaces. "Although there isa soft market globally, there is more growth opportunity where themarket is rising as opposed to where it is more stable," saysMampre.

When dissecting the U.S. market vs. other mature markets, Mamprefinds U.S. insurance buyers have a stronger-than-average positiveperspective of insurance as a tool to protect their property andfamily. In the global perspective, around 58 percent of therespondents to the Capgemini study cited financial growth as areason to buy insurance, whereas in the U.S. the number is 81percent. "Clearly there is a risk-protection profile in the U.S.,"observes Mampre. "If you look at the growing markets, they arebeginning to look at wealth-portfolio-type products."

Insurance as a tool for financial wealth had experienced somegrowth when annuities first came out, but when the strategyreceived some bad press, the market changed, notes Mampre."Financial advisors backed away from using that type of tool andfocused on it as a protection tool instead of a wealth managementtool." Today, though, the trend is reversing, and Mampre attributesthe change to improved marketing by American insurers.

Mampre asserts policy administration systems of global insurersneed to support changes. "Historically, if an organization isworking with legacy-type systems, it is challenging and expensiveto make modifications, and therefore it is inhibiting the abilityto compete on the speed-to-market and fast-follower basis," hesays.

In order to make technology an enabler, global carriers need torevamp their front office to be much more flexible and provide moreinformation to brokers and agents, continues Mampre. They also needto review how they service policies and create more of aservice-oriented architecture that allows them to externalize theirbusiness rules and quickly adapt in the marketplace. "Companies noware undergoing major transformation, whether they are building in.NET or Java or going out to vendor packages to support theirneeds," he says. "Investments in these types of products are high,but [insurers] are doing that to get ahead of the market."

Mampre believes standards continue to mature as carriers becomemore global. He points out new markets are opening to Western-basedorganizations, and as such, they are working to revamp theirstandards to accept global partners. "As outsourcing becomes alarger component for the Western world, working with outsourcepartners in India and China and having a consistent set ofstandards is very important," he says. "There has been a greateremphasis as the markets are globalizing."

Insurers worldwide are not growing as they have in the past, andMampre contends one problem is carriers are not as targeted ontheir goals as they should be. "They need to better understandtheir customer bases and do more segmentation in understanding howtheir services apply to those different segments," he says. "Thosesegments require different capabilities, and this needs to relateback to how the company operates–not only the IT architecture butalso the business processes."