Welcome to PropertyCasualty360.com, and to Sounding the Horn, a weekly blog focused on the changes, challenges and opportunities facing the P&C insurance marketplace in 2011.  

I am Greg Horn, vice president of industry relations for Mitchell International, Inc., where I have been working since 2006 on the design and development of business solutions for the P&C claims and automotive collision repair markets. I focus on delivering the technologies that help insurers and other customers manage the many changes in play in the P&C industry today, and believe me, I have seen a lot of change since I first entered the insurance business 20 years ago.  

In my years at National Grange Mutual and GMAC Insurance, we went from paper-based claims processes to an all-digital environment — well mostly, the insurance industry doesn't work that fast. I've also seen acronyms like BPO and concepts such as business intelligence take hold of the insurance world in a way no one could have precisely foreseen.

Which brings me to the point of Sounding the Horn — and PropertyCasualty360.com. Both will provide an all-encompassing viewpoint amidst a three-dimensional mindset. The point is to examine, analyze, and yes, probably argue about the thorniest, toughest issues facing the P&C industry today, with the goal of helping everyone in the insurance ecosystem think about our market in new and rewarding ways, even if you don't agree with me all the time. I'm used to being challenged, and I welcome it along with suggestions as to what you want to see appear in this blog. 

I try to ensure that technology innovations directly reflect customer needs in a rapidly evolving insurance marketplace. My customers include the largest P&C carriers in the world, and every single one of them must cope with technology change; policyholder behavior and preference changes; healthcare changes; world financial changes; and more while running large organizations that millions of people depend upon.  

In Sounding the Horn, I will cover topics that I encounter everyday, such as claims system technology innovations, business analytics, customer satisfaction metrics, along with risk management in an era of constant change and business/IT alignment in an environment constantly under siege by the latest and greatest techniques, tools, and technologies.  

These topics and more will be discussed with one question in mind: How do they help insurers cope with and benefit from the many changes in the marketplace? I will also tell you all I know about the collision repair marketplace because here change has been so overwhelming as to make today's auto insurance policies look like relics of the Henry Ford era. Exotic metals and advanced engine components are creating vehicles that promise to permanently shake up auto insurance forever, and tell a cautionary tale for other insurance lines of business.  

Happy New Year, and I look forward to hearing from the readers of PropertyCasualty360.com in the coming weeks and months!