Paramnesia or D?j? vu?

It sounds ominous doesn’t it? But year after year, conference after conference, we end up talking about the same thing. Everybody nods, claps, and agrees. And everyone goes home happy. After several such cycles we simply must ask ourselves: Are we dealing with reality or fantasy? Is the insurance industry running circles around its core system strategies? Is it pacifying itself by confusing fantasy with objective experience or constantly experiencing d?j? vu? And is there a difference, theoretically or clinically?

What are they getting at, you might wonder. We think you know. We think you, too–carrier, vendor, consultant, or analyst–are experiencing the same sense of despair over what our industry has been doing with and about its core business applications, especially those that have been clunking along in the back rooms for two or three decades.