For many people in IT—particularly those in the insuranceindustry—a job with Progressive Insurance is considered a dreamopportunity because of the value the carrier places ontechnology.

Bryan Fowler, who spent 12 years with Progressive before movingto Oregon Mutual Insurance, described the experience as likeworking for a start-up company within a successful business.

"It was a lot of fun; a lot of energy and a lot of high-techtalent and focus," he says. "Especially the start-up of theInternet business. That was my gig for a long time."

Nearly two years ago, though, Fowler left his position, havingbeen a director of IT at Progressive, to try something new.

"I had a good 12 years at Progressive, but when you are with abig company like that—even if you rise up to a high level—it'sstill a niche job," he says. "The culture changed and it wasn't asrewarding as it used to be."

(Read more about all our 2012 Insurance IT All-Stars:Peter Moreau, Thad DeBerry, Rich Pederson, and Rick Roy.)

Fowler went from being part of a respected IT department—with3,000 people—to an Oregon Mutual IT shop that has 45 people anddidn't have a good reputation within its own four walls.

"IT did not have a very good relationship with the businessbecause we weren't delivering," says Fowler. "Part of the problemwas we said 'yes' to everything and when you do that you're reallysaying yes to nothing because you can't deliver everything."

Fowler didn't believe Oregon Mutual's IT personnel were thesource of the problem, but he felt IT had to become more responsiveand a better partner with the business. The business also had torecognize that they are part of the equation, he adds.

"You can't keep changing priorities," he says. "There's also athing called supply and demand. No one had ever talked about thatbecause IT kept saying yes, but there are only so many peopleworking in IT. We introduced prioritization, supply and demand,transparency, and began business conversations. It's not all fixedbut it's a lot different than it was."

One of the first steps was to envision and start laying down anenterprise data architecture, according to Fowler, something thatis being accomplished with the help of a vendor partner, Millbrook.Fowler believes this will be the foundation of everything thecarrier does going forward.

"Data is at the center of our business. We will have anenterprise data architecture now so we won't have tangled systems;they will talk through data and services," he says. "Whenever wewant to do something new, we have a buy vs. build vs. cloud vs.outsource decision to make and using data as our connector makesthose decisions flexible. We will have more choices, more agility,and faster speed-to-market. We have to be more agile so if we don'tlike a certain technology or want to get into a new line ofbusiness we can make changes because the data allows us to."

Fowler explains that Millbrook and OregonMutual developed a plan to get important data into the hands ofOregon Mutual's marketing staff so when they visit the offices oftheir independent agents, the discussion turns to how the two sidescan improve business for each other.

The Oregon Mutual marketing staff is now armed with iPads and amobile app called MiAgents that puts agent performance data intotheir hands and highlights key action items.

"We never had true business conversations before with the agencychannel," says Fowler. "We sell exclusively through independentagents and they don't want us to waste their time. MiAgents puts the business partnership with our agents front andcenter. On the flip side, we take what were formerly known as tripreports and turn them into quantifiable analytical information thatwe can act on."

As Oregon Mutual and Fowler look at the technology tools theyneed, Fowler admits he has become a fan of cloud computing.

"My first order of business when I look at the next thing weneed to take on is what is out there on the cloud," he says. "A lotof companies are nervous about the cloud and for good reasons. Irecognize the same land mines, but I have seen how it can work veryeffectively.  It takes a lot of detailed work andplanning, but it can work.  I have less angst about thecloud."

The issues can be worked out if carriers have the rightpartners, technologies, and controls, points out Fowler.

"It's an interesting challenge, particularly for companies oursize. We don't have much in the cloud now, but I know we will goingforward."

What lies ahead for Oregon Mutual is executing its plans,finding innovative ways to execute them, and going beyondmodernization to what Fowler calls "futurization."

"It's too late to catch up," he says. "We mustleapfrog.  MiAgents is the beginning, but there's somegreat stuff still to do."

Oregon Mutual also is making some investments in the ITstaff.

"When I came here, no one had the word 'test' or 'quality' intheir job title. We never had real project management," saysFowler. "I'm investing in some key positions in IT."

Oregon Mutual is located in McMinnville, Ore., 35 milessouthwest of Portland, and Fowler explains that finding talent isone of the biggest challenges he faces.

"It's not just getting people to McMinnville that's a problem,"he says. "It's finding strong talent to begin with. I've got a lotof résumés across my desk, but because we're small we can't justhire an average player."

Making the adjustment is also a factor when selecting technologypartners as well.

"At Progressive, vendors clamored to get on my dance card," hesays. "Big budgets attract vendors, of course. Now I call and tellthem I'm from Oregon Mutual and they say, "Huh?"

Fowler is joking there.

"It's not that bad," he says. "We've had some good luck inselecting partners, but we have to be creative about it."

An inside look . . .

Not many CIOs for insurance carriers have bachelor degrees fromperforming arts schools, but that's just one of the things thatmake Bryan Fowler, vice president and CIO of Oregon MutualInsurance stand out.

Fowler actually began his career in technology before college,as a member of the United States Marine Corps, but after leavingthe service he followed his passion for the arts. Passion doesn'talways put food on the table, though, so after moving to Ohio withhis wife, he graduated from the executive MBA program at Kent StateUniversity and went to work for Progressive Insurance for 12years.

Nearly two years ago, Fowler left Progressive for the decidedlysmaller Oregon Mutual Insurance. There he runs an IT shop of 45people. The change appears to be successful; earlier this year theInsurance Accounting and Systems Association awarded Oregon Mutualits Technology Innovation Award.

Karen Furtado, partner with the consulting firm Strategy MeetsAction, describes Fowler this way: Bryan Fowler has created a focuson impactful change since joining Oregon Mutual in 2010. His focus on developing a modern architecture and implementingsolutions that directly address business strategies isgame changing for Oregon Mutual.  One example of a recentimpactful change was the MiAgents application, which changed theconversations with their independent agents and positioned thecarrier to drive growth and improve retention.  Thisimplementation recently won the IASA Technology InnovationAward.  Bryan embraces innovations in the market and ischarting a path forward creating a service-focused ITorganization.