The consumerization of IT is having a significant impact onevery insurer and most certainly on every insurer's IT department.There is no escaping the effect. Basically, there are two optionsfor the IT department—try to control it, or work to harness itspower. But, the best approach is probably a combination of thetwo.

The "consumerization of IT" means different things to differentpeople. SMA takes a broad view, defining it as "the abundantavailability to the general public of a wide variety of easily usedinformation technologies."

The consumerization of IT is not just about mobile; it's aboutbring-your-own devices, bring-your-own apps, build-your-ownapplications and websites, and use-your-own computinginfrastructure (made possible via low cost computing andcloud-based services). It's also about fostering innovation throughideation and crowdsourcing, and the ample availability of toolsthat provide new insights from internal and external data. Theindividuals that are leveraging these capabilities are customers,employees, business partners, and other third parties—essentiallyeveryone.

Some CIOs perceive this consumerization to be a real threat thatmust be aggressively managed. They see potential disasters stemmingfrom security breaches, the lack of standardization, andinefficient use of funding. And, many worry about the declininginfluence of IT. While these concerns are valid, they reflect aninside-out view of the world.

There was a time when technology was the province of a cadre ofexperts in the IT department—specialists who conceived technologysolutions, and then designed, implemented, and managed them. Thesetechnology professionals felt that they knew what was best for theorganization.

But that time is long past. The IT organization continues tohave a vital role to play, but innovative insurers are seeking tocapitalize on the forces brought about by the consumerization ofIT. They are adopting an outside-in approach. They are effectivelybalancing how to unleash the power of individuals to create and usetechnology, while addressing the real concerns in this newenvironment.

CIOs need to think about policies concerning technology use;they need to identify architectural implications for networkbandwidth, storage, and data privacy and security. Instead of a'build it and they will come' mentality, they need to think aboutunleashing the creativity and innovation made possible by theubiquitous nature of technology—not only on the part of ITdevelopers, but also for all employees, customers, and businesspartners.

This grand vision can be a challenge for many organizations.Some of the specific ways we see insurers harnessing the power ofthe consumerization of IT are:

• Experimenting with organizational constructs and social mediatools to drive innovation
• Increasing collaboration with business units to capitalize onanalytics
• Defining and implementing BYOD policies
• Piloting cloud-based services
• Providing tools to facilitate collaboration among businessunits and distribution partners
• Rethinking outsourcing to improve resource utilization and tapinto new sources of expertise

It is clearly more challenging than ever for CIOs and ITdepartments. Yet the opportunities to partner with business unitsand to make a significant contribution to overall business resultshave never been greater.

(Mark Breading, a partner at Strategy Meets Action, is wellknown for his perspectives on innovative uses of technology ininsurance and the future of the insurance industry. He hasexceptional knowledge and experience in all aspects of advancedtechnologies and solutions that provide value across the insuranceenterprise—including data and analytics, customer communications,enterprise content management, and mobile technologies.)