The words of the headline above, although quoted many times over many years, originated in the phrase the winter of our discontent from the historical play King Richard the Third, by William Shakespeare, describing a civil war in England. Whats happening in insurance companies as 2003 comes to a close actually is quite the opposite of war. Insurers are looking for alignmentfor the IT people to understand business and business to understand IT. Sounds like nirvana. A brotherhood of sorts. But that still apparently doesnt eliminate the discontent.
We all know times have been tough in insurance (for insurers views on the present and future of the industry and its technology, see IT 2004: Guarded Optimism, p. 10): Limited resources, financial and/or human. A volatile stock market. Shrinking profits. Return on investment. Mandates about proven business value. Continually increasing regulations. Greater competition with new distribution channels. Mergers and acquisitions. Legacy issues. The Web. Agents needs. Customers needs. Security risks, both physical and cyber. Do I see you reaching for the aspirin bottle yet?
You might want to keep the bottle handy, because theres one more issuea brewing discontent, the consequence of all of these demands that become magnified in times like these. Im reminded of something a publisher I once worked for used to say in responding to problems staff members were moaning about at that then-profitable publication: Well, you dont want to experience what its like working for a struggling magazine.
Well, want to or not, in the last several years, insurance companies have learned the hard way what the struggling experience is like regardless of whether theyve been equally, more, or less profitable than before, because its gotten harder to make a profit. And this seemingly relentless pressure almost naturally gives rise to discontent. In conversations with IT, some legitimate questions such as these have begun to surface: Is IT truly shoulder to shoulder with business in the IT/business partnership, or is it brought in after the plans have been made and told to do them faster, better, cheaper? Is it realistic to ask the tech side to cut and cut as expectations go up and up? While theres heavy scrutiny on reducing IT expenses, has corresponding attention been paid to the actual impact of those reductions? Has the same kind of scrutiny occurred on the business side, which may be pointing a finger at IT?
As we close out the year and assess where we are, I think were learning a valuable lesson: For the IT/business partnership to work for its participants and ultimately the company, it needs to be an equal one like a marriagefor richer or poorer, better or worse. With any luck, weve already experienced the worst, and if some of the positive economic flickers were seeing take hold and theres a kinder economy in 2004, we can use the lessons learned about alignment to turn the winter of discontent into a spring of growth and satisfaction.
Heres hoping this season of good cheer will extend well into next year and beyond. From all of us at Tech Decisions, our best wishes to you for happy holidays and a prosperous new year.
Sharon S. Schwartzman
Editor-in-Chief
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.