The fact that nearly half of the insurance companies surveyed by The Jacobson Group and Ward Group expect to hire more employees in the remainder of this year and into 2012 will surely bring smiles to the faces of most industry observers.

The additional fact that technology positions will be the ones carriers are more likely to fill over the needs of any other business unit is even better news for our small corner of the enterprise.

A few weeks ago in this space I wrote that two industry analysts—Novarica and Forrester—are forecasting increases in IT spending for 2012. The fact that insurers plan to back up those spending increases by adding to their payroll is just the cherry on top of that sundae.

Certainly it's not all good news. Greg Jacobson reports that carriers aren't necessarily looking to add fulltime staffers to their IT teams. But at least temporary staffing increases are a step in the right direction and at a time when we are looking for any type of good news, we can't be too choosy.

The better news, according to Jacobson, is this: "After years of holding off on capital spending, companies are upgrading their technology again. A significant growth in hiring and total expenses will occur in this area as organizations begin making massive investments in their technological infrastructures. Further, there seems to be an interest in returning to in-house resources over external approaches."

So, not only are carriers ready to spend money on major projects—quite likely core solutions—these sensitive positions will be filled by people in-house as opposed to workers located halfway around the world.

This isn't a slam on outsourcing. It's an important piece of the puzzle for a large number of insurance companies, but it's nice to see companies looking to add to payroll—even if some of those salaries are only temporary.

IT departments withstood most of the layoffs that companies dealt with over the last three years. The fact that IT continues to grow in stature in the insurance industry shows how far we've come in such a short time.

Special Reports /

Labor Study Hints at Good Times Ahead for Insurance IT

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