Rapid innovations in communications, data storage and computing are transforming global business like never before, and insurance professionals will need to adapt to stay ahead of the curve. “To understand the difficulty of predicting the next 100 years,” says keynote speaker Michio Kaku in his New York Times bestseller Physics of the Future, “we have to appreciate the difficulty that the people of 1900 had in predicting the world of 2000.” Recent technological advances have forever altered the insurance market—and the economy as a whole—and even seasoned industry veterans will need to acquire new knowledge and skills.

To help attendees thrive in this changing business environment, the 2013 ACORD LOMA Forum will focus on the intersection between existing insurance practices, revolutionary technologies and changing generational dynamics. “The insurance industry has been moving at such a slow pace,” says Malou August, ACORD's Director of Events Programs. “We're listening, and we've modeled our sessions around all of the feedback we've gotten. We're trying to get the program as relevant as we can for our industry.”

One of the most important themes of the Forum will be the convergence of information technology and business. “IT is no longer separate from business or vice-versa,” says August. “It's all blended now, and our program is dissolving into a very blended discussion.” Whereas IT was once a single component of the insurance business with distinct goals and roles, it's now an integral part of leadership, middle management and day-to-day affairs. Chief information officers are becoming increasingly influential, tech-oriented jobs are constantly being created, and the most successful insurance professionals are intimately familiar with their organizations' tech policies.