Digital disruption — major changes, paradigm shifts and newproducts that dramatically alter how markets behave — is perhapsthe hot topic in business technology circles. And like most business concepts, it holds out the promise of richrewards to those who get it, and dire consequences for those whoignore it. Among the 373 million responses a Google search of theterm currently yields is a line on a Forrester Research listingthat promises you can "Get closer to customers and disruptthe usual way of doing business."

Tuesday's Chief Information/Technology Officer Roundtable atIASA 2014 promises to show just what Digital Disruption can (andcan't) do for an organization. And those insights will come via adisruption to the traditional roundtable format, with asingle-theme, high-energy session.

The Chief Information/Technology Officer Committee beginsplanning the roundtable in the fall, trying to predict what will beimportant to the organization's CTO and CIO members nine monthslater.  This year Committee Co-Chair Bryan Fowler, CIO ofOregon Mutual Insurance, heard a talk on Digital Disruption andsuggested it as the theme because it affects every organization,even one as heavily regulated as insurance.  It is tooeasy for CIOs and CTOs to focus on things that are immediate andlocal to them, while failing to notice something drastically new inthe marketplace, he explained. The committee quickly embracedit.

"We felt Digital Disruption is a timely topic. Everybody in ourfield of technology is faced with having to deal with this in anumber of different ways," says Committee Co-Chair Mary EllenFreyermuth, director of IT at Catholic Mutual Group inOmaha. 

Freyermuth explains that insurers have to be able to accommodateDigital Disruption internally, externally and withcustomers.  The speakers will look at it "from a varietyof different angles, including recruiting, retention and pricing,because it is affecting everything we do," she says.

The rountable's keynote speaker is Dr. Dom Sagolla, who was partof the team that developed Twitter and is author of "140Characters," a stylebook of forms and characters to use intweeting.

Dr. Sagolla will help set the tone for the day by exploring thetransformative effects that Twitter has had on business andinsurance, said Freyermuth.   He'll also discusshow to quickly prop up a transformative idea within an enterprise,adds Fowler.

Twitter has helped revolutionize communications by creatingtweets, 140-character messages that consist of a complexcombination of abbreviations, special characters, hashtags andshortened links, so it is considered one of the major digitaldisrupters of our age. 

To energize and engage the audience, the next six talks will bebrief and pointed, using stories and examples to illustrate aconcept but no questions or PowerPoint bulleted slides. These topics and speakers fall into three categories:

1. Digital disruption within theorganization:  "Leading the Fastest MovingProfession in a Slow Moving Industry," by Doug Moore, chieftechnology officer, ISCS, Inc.;  "Insurance IT Recruitingand Retention:  Finding and Retaining Talent," by LauraFord of Ernst & Young.

2. Digital disruption outside theorganization:  "Differentiating Beyond Price" byJohn Johansen, partner at Agile Technologies LLC; Product Ideationand Development" by Scott Mackey, Vice President, Underwriting, atColumbia Insurance Group.  "

3. Digital disruption for your customers: "TheInternet of Everything" by Mike Collins, CIO TravelersInsurance;  "Consumer Integrated Transactions," speakerTBD.

The roundtable will conclude with a wrap-up session whereattendees can ask questions of the speakers and makecomments.  Miguel Edwards, director, Ivantage Technologyat Allstate, and Sal Abano, executive vice president atMajescoMastek, will lead what promises to be a most informative,and disruptive, discussion.