Like many people attending the IASA Educational Conference and Business Show, I have to steal away from sessions or the exhibit hall to get back to my room and do some "real" work. It's hard to convince ourselves—much less our bosses—that being away from the office and thinking about work, without actually doing any said work, is not a waste of time.

It's not a waste, though. I sat in a room with over 100 CIOs on Tuesday afternoon and all of them were discussing things that are important for the future of their company and the industry as a whole—and little of it related to what they will be doing over the next 12 months.

The subject of one session involved research and development and the audience heard views from both software vendors and other CIOs. Piyush Singh, CIO of Great American Insurance Co., believes discussions that happen at a conference such as this one can also happen within the walls of the IT department if CIOs have the fortitude to empower their team of technologists.

Singh asked the audience who had the courage to place their career in the hands of others. When a sparse number of hands were raised, Singh reminded the audience that, unless they are operating a one-member shop, all of them placed that power in the hands of their IT teams every day of the week.

His caveat, though, was "you can't totally cede responsibility" to development teams.

Andy Scurto, president and CEO of solutions provider ISCS, feels members of his industry necessarily need to do more in the way of R&D than carriers.

"I don't know many carriers that can afford to invest $1 million in an R&D project that might not succeed," he says. "There needs to be a partnership."

Thinking about the future may not be viewed as productive, but it is necessary, particularly in a world where how people communicate, shop, and work has changed so greatly in just the last five years.

Is insurance ready for a paradigm shift? Changes in this industry can sometimes seem painfully slow and, as Scurto pointed out, the industry had to be dragged kicking and screaming into selling insurance policies over the Internet.

It seems the changes that the coming generations are embracing will be inevitable for insurers, so sitting down and thinking about them every now and then appears to be a valuable way to spend some time.

Special Reports /

CIOs Need Time to Discuss the Challenges Ahead

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