When you cover technology for a living it's easy to get caughtup in the idea that software solutions are the answer to everyproblem known to man—and the insurance industry. Occasionally,though, we need a reminder that humans operate the technology andare the ones who feed the data into the systems that we sodesperately treasure. Technology can provide the answers, but it ishumans asking the questions.

That's why an interview with Gartner's Kimberly Harris-Ferrante,which is part of one of our feature articles this month ("Hop onBoard" p. 10) is an excellent reminder that insurers can ill-affordto ignore the human element when initiating new technologyimplementations for the enterprise.

The industry knows this issue as change management, but for manycompanies the operative word is simply change. Business users oftenare told to do their jobs differently without the courtesy of beingasked what about their jobs actually should be donedifferently.

Believe it or not, there are people who want to do their jobsmore efficiently. Saving money for the company often meansemployees are less likely to stand by and watch a representativefrom HR visit a neighboring cubicle and start cleaning out aco-worker's desk.

Harris-Ferrante listed change management as one of her areas ofconcern for the insurance industry in 2012. In the interview sheexplains how some insurers have forgotten how the culture of thecompany needs to change in order to facilitate the improved workingexperience that is supposed to come when new technology isimplemented.

"It's not just buying technology and voila you are modern anddoing fancy things," says Harris-Ferrante. "When you focus on howyou are going to do things differently you have to be sure theemployees, the culture, even the incentive and compensation plansare driving the behavior you want. Otherwise the technology won'tdo anything for you. You can't just wake up tomorrow and dosomething different. You have to deal with training, employeeretention, change management, employee education. If you don't takea strong look at the role of people and process, and changemanagement from an organizational point of view, you can't besuccessful."

Of course this is a lesson for all of industries, not justinsurance. Technology doesn't magically transform businesses.People need to understand the capabilities of new systems and howbest to make efficient use of their time and the software in orderto achieve sought-after results.