P&C insurers have had a taste of doing business in 2012, andthey realize they are dealing with a tough environment—one in whichlittle or no organic customer growth exists to fuel corporategrowth. Gaining market share means taking it away from someoneelse, so the level of competitiveness in the industry is high andwill only get more intense.

At the same time, customer expectations regarding service andvalue are growing dramatically. P&C carriers gaining an edgetoday are those that are employing tools and information to do twothings: out-execute the competition operationally, and out-servethe competition from a customer perspective.

The common denominator here is information, and the technologiesthat deliver that information and help translate it into effectivegoals, decisions and execution. A carrier that is more effectiveand efficient at managing information can streamline processes,make better decisions, get products to market faster, and givecustomers the sense of being known well and servedproperly.

While many carriers are dealing with a legacy system andsoftware environment that slows them down, there are four positiveresolutions that P&C companies can make to become morecompetitive in 2012:

Resolution 1: Configure new capabilities and productsusing a business-driven approach.

A carrier's legacy IT environment is frequently an impediment toimproving speed to market, something essential to winning withinthe zero-sum P&C game. What the business needs is the abilityto make changes to processes, products and rules rapidly, accordingto marketplace circumstances, without being bogged down by the longlead times of typical IT development.

Business needs are urgent. An auto insurer may find that therisk factors for a segment of its insured population have risendramatically, and pricing algorithms may need to change almostinstantaneously so that the company itself is not subjected toundue risk.

Today's advanced software platforms respond to this need, givingthe business the capability to make changes and enhancements basedon its own timetable and view of the marketplace rather than beingforced into configurations and timetables dictated by legacy ITrequirements.

Resolution 2: Employ “rapid analytics”to make more effective decisions.

It's great to be able to change a business or a process quicklyin the pursuit of competitive advantage. At the same time, you wantto make sure you're making the right change. And that's a matter ofhaving the capabilities to acquire data—high-quality, timely andrelevant data—and then to crunch the numbers readily to steer thebusiness in an effective manner.

While carriers can turn to expensive add-ons or to long-termdata warehousing and business intelligence solutions, anotheralternative is “rapid analytics”—a platform that delivers theseanalytics capabilities within the basic capabilities of thesoftware.

The software is built to deliver high-quality data using anintegrated model with analytics and real-time reporting.Decision-makers and innovators can manipulate this data to focusefforts and resources just where they are needed.

Resolution 3: Use technology to enhancecustomer-centric service and processes.

P&C carriers do not sell a tangible product, but rather arelationship built on a promise, with the ongoing obligations andservices such a relationship provides.

P&C carriers, however, have been product-centric rather thancustomer-centric in their approach to their businesses. By andlarge they have not had the ability to understand details across anactual relationship with a real human being, nor have they offeredthe kinds of self-service technologies that let customers choosehow and when they want to do business.

With the right software capabilities, an insurer can supportcustomers across whatever access and interaction channels theyprefer, whether by phone, Web or through an agent. Suchcapabilities depend upon business-driven configurability, creatingrules with enough flexibility to specify different behaviors fordifferent channels when using the same product.

Resolution 4: Drive out inefficiencies and reducecosts.

Carriers must cut costs relentlessly, year after year, in a downmarket. But cost-cutting must be paired with strategic thinking sothat the focus can be on what business capabilities providedifferentiation and which do not.

Software capabilities are an excellent example. Carriers arespending an inordinate amount of time and money creatingcapabilities in areas that industrialized industry software hasalready solved. P&C insurers should resolve to leverage thesebest practices and then move on to other ways to differentiatethemselves, such as better products, better service or betteranalytics.