Are insurance carriers making the right steps in thearea of project management to ensure they are taking the rightsteps from selection to implementation of software? What do theyneed to do better?

Alex Naddaff, vice president, professional services forGuidewire Software: While we see the majority of carrierstaking the right steps from selection to implementation, pace andtiming is more the issue. Overall carriers still need to betterprepare for faster paced projects delivered by empoweredteams. Implementation of today’s modern and configurabletechnology solutions requires a different approach—a more iterativeapproach than the traditional waterfall method.

(To read what other vendors have to say on these issues, checkout Part 1 of the series, Part 2, or part 4.)

We are big proponents of using an agile approach forimplementation and we encourage our customers to adopt thisapproach as well. In our experience, those who have embraced agileend up becoming their carrier’s internal champions and work topromote the approach as a company standard. That said, manycarriers are still in the early stages of agile adoption, learningand refining their approach, and have not yet used Agile to itsfull advantage.

Agile creates empowered teams that are allowed and encouraged toexceed business expectations. Agile also provides transparency toprogress which enables engaged sponsors to stay close to theprogram throughout the implementation. The combination ofinformed sponsors and empowered teams results in unprecedentedsuccess for many carriers.

Tim Attia, senior vice president sales and marketing forSeaPass Solutions: For the most part insurance carriersare taking the right project management steps, particularlyrelative to methodologies that employ an iterative approach tosoftware implementation. And, when carriers focus the project onbusiness improvement rather than simply getting a softwareapplication up and running, they tend to better avoid scope creepand cost overruns—and generally end up with a better result. A goodproject plan starts with the business motivation, the desiredoperational changes, and then the supporting technologies.

While most might think of a project and the associated projectmanagement effort in terms of software implementation, the projectactually starts much earlier—at the point the carrier recognizesthe business challenge or opportunity. The project plan should bemuch broader than software implementation. It should include thebusiness case, the solution evaluation and selection, theimplementation, and the follow up to ensure that the project hasachieved the anticipated business objectives.

And as a vendor, the sooner we are allowed to participate in theproject and better understand the big picture, the more effectivelywe can support the carrier customer in meeting or exceeding theirproject objectives.

Do most insurance carriers look at you as a partner inthe solution process or as a vendor? Please explain.

Attia: While our carrier clients consider ustheir partner, the relationship often doesn’t start out that way.Unfortunately, we find that many relationships with carriers beginwith the carrier having a level of distrust when it comes to vendorpromises and intent. Maybe it’s the sins of past vendors havingoversold and under-delivered, but it’s real and something weaddress often and early in our interactions with a new carrier.Certainly, the references from our existing clients help theprocess and our good reputation goes a long way, but we still needto earn our partner stripes by making good on our commitments.

We start by ensuring the carrier that we will take the time tounderstand their requirements and that we are willing to share therisk of any project with them. By tying our pricing model to ourdeliverables and value we are able to begin to establish a level oftrust and a true partnership.

But, a partnership is a two-way street. We ask ourcustomers to give us the necessary access to their operation andusers, so that we can gain an in depth understanding of theirbusiness challenges, requirements and desired processes. Only whenwe are afforded the opportunity to act as a consultant are we trulyable to be a partner.

Naddaff: Most carriers look to Guidewire as apartner in the solution process. We establish close relationshipswith our customers and stay focused on their long termsatisfaction, working closely with their teams to help them derivemaximize value from the new solution.

And, when you are working in a close partnership there are times“hard to deliver news” needs to be shared and tackled as a team.These are the times when the strength of the partnership is reallyput to the test.

If everyone keeps an open mind and is flexible in workingtogether through the tough times that are inevitable in any compleximplementation project, the effort is well rewarded with successfulresults. When customers are convinced that we are interested inlearning, working side by side, and searching for the bestsolutions, then everyone benefits in the end—the carrier customer,Guidewire, and the overall industry.

What specific areas do you see the most weaknesses amonginsurance carriers where new technology could offer the mosthelp?

Attia: Carriers are not yet making maximum useof technologies that will allow them to most effectively reach andservice the consumer—whether the consumer is an individual or abusiness. Consumers are still somewhat intimidated by theinsurance process, finding insurance overly complex and difficultto purchase. As a result, carriers need to respond by finding waysto leverage technology to make it easier for consumers to not justbuy insurance, but also to help the consumer feel confident thatthey are buying the right coverage for the right price.

Technology that enables insurance carriers to be more online andreal-time is a start. But, the technology should givethe consumer what they want—an education on what and how to buy,comparison between options, the ability to network with likeconsumers or companies, and the option to purchase throughany channel they choose.

The objective for technology and for pleasing the consumershould be ease of doing business. But it’s not justabout the technology. The right people and process needs tobe in place, and products must also be crafted with a wide range ofconsumers and their varying needs in mind.

Naddaff: Carriers today are under significantpressure to perform better due to macro-level trends such aslowering returns from investment income, an increasinglycompetitive market place and increased incidences of catastrophes.The vendor community is providing technology, specifically the coresystems, that enable carriers to implement the business strategiesrequired for long term success.

The specific areas of weakness and opportunity depend on thetype of carrier, their culture and appetite for change.Applications exist today that will enable carriers to addressspecific points of concern—whether it be growing their businessregionally and through new product offerings; improving the qualityand speed of underwriting, addressing leakage in claims and billingoperations or providing better service to policyholders and, whererelevant, agents.

New technology and systems are merely tools. It isincumbent on people to use these tools to do the things they havealways wanted to. It is encouraging to see that technology ishelping carriers break down the organizational silos that tend toexist.

IT teams, truly empowered with better technology and systems aremore responsive to the business. The emergence of core systemsuites that span the policy lifecycle enable improved results byasking the question how interdependent business processes can beimproved, rather than looking at improving individual functionalareas. These cultural changes are very helpful as carrierslook to the future. They help people to think of change in apositive, opportunistic way.