I recently returned from the 2nd annual ACORD/LOMA Insurance Systems Forum. The emphasis of these meetings is technology, and they provide a good, solid overview of what is available to the industry and the direction those technologies are taking. There seemed to be less evangelism about standards and more of a focus on how all aspects of technology can be leveraged to create lean, mean insurance providers. This is a good thing. Of course, we couldn't escape the standards mantra altogether. We were informed about ACORD standards in a variety of ways–most obviously through the distribution of a new book, The Business Information Revolution, by ACORD CEO Greg Maciag, which was released at the conference. Maciag "draws upon his many years in the insurance industry and with data standards to help readers understand not only what standards are but how they are crucial to remain competitive," according to an ACORD press release. All in all, it is a good introduction to standards in the industry and the role ACORD has played in those standards. The conference working sessions seemed to be less about pure technology and more about business and technology. And that makes perfect sense as the role of the CIO has evolved into that of a tech-savvy business adviser to the CEO.
There were two keynote presentations on the second day of the conference, and they both were a welcome change from the typical keynoters. I am a little tired of the self-promoters who spend 90 minutes telling us what a great job they did when they were in charge and how, when things went south, it wasn't their fault. I am equally tired of the rah-rah to be the best you can be. Norman Vincent Peale covered that adequately more than 50 years ago in The Power of Positive Thinking. So, we had two keynotes on day number two. In the morning, we listened to Don Tapscott discuss his latest co-authored book, The Naked Corporation (http://www.nakedcorporation.com). Tapscott bills himself as a futurist, and while I am not quite sure what that is exactly, he is an entertaining speaker who provided a logical foundation for adapting the philosophy that a corporation that embraces transparency is one that will enhance its reputation and gain competitive advantages. The second keynote was a real surprise. Jeff Galloway, an Olympic runner and running coach, ostensibly talked about "Gaining Momentum in the Business Race." What he really talked about was his career and physical fitness.
Don't Be a Couch Potato
Galloway departed from the motivational speaker formula, i.e., the one where the speaker takes a canned speech and adds 350 words to tailor it to your industry. You know what I am talking about–those speeches that conclude with "so, if you follow my strategy, you will double your sales of variable annuities in the next 18 months." To his credit, Galloway made no attempt to "customize" his talk to the insurance industry. He regaled us with inspirational tales of perseverance and courage learned during his competitive running career and his experiences in the 1972 Olympic games. He then encouraged everyone to begin some sort of fitness program. If not running, then at least walking–the premise being physical fitness "will infuse you with more energy, stamina, and creativity." The lecture hall was packed at the start of his talk, and I kept expecting folks to start walking out when they discovered his talk had nothing to do with insurance. I was pleasantly surprised most everyone stayed to the end (even though food and beverages were beckoning outside the hall). We keep reading about the "fattening" of America and the plethora of health problems an obese population will bring. It makes perfect sense for the insurance industry to lead by example and promote healthy lifestyles from within. I remember being impressed when I was informed by a senior VP of a major carrier smoking was banned on the corporate campus–even in the outdoor parking lot (and that was six years ago).
I confess I am a runner and have been for years, so maybe I am a little prejudiced in this reporting. I will say, though, on Tuesday morning (the day after Galloway's presentation) I saw more runners around the hotel complex than I ever have before. I have been making early-morning runs around that area for five years and have never seen that many runners before. So, for at least one day, a bunch of insurance executives took fitness to heart.
The Buff Corporation
The basic premise of Tapscott's talk was since we live in an age of transparency, corporations should not hide behind obfuscation but should embrace transparency and stand "naked" before shareholder's, customers, and employees.
The Nixon Watergate scandal taught the world organizations no longer can stand behind the big lie and expect it to be accepted. Watergate occurred in 1972. That means everyone over 33 has grown up in era in which they expect full disclosure. Shareholders will no longer tolerate having critical financial data withheld. "Businesses must for the first time make themselves clearly visible to shareholders, customers, employees, partners, and society. Financial data, employee grievances, internal memos, environmental disasters, product weaknesses, international protests, scandals and policies, good news and bad–all can be seen by anyone who knows where to look," according to Tapscott's Web site. And the first postulate of the transparent corporation is if you are going to be naked you had better be buff. Maybe there was a link between these two speakers after all.
What are the characteristics and values of the naked corporation? According to Tapscott, the values of a corporation willing to stand naked are the same values top firms have embraced for years: honesty, consideration, accountability, and openness. The desirable characteristics he described cover the full spectrum of "good things" we have come to expect from excellent businesses: top-notch leadership, dynamic and involved corporate culture, brand and reputation, environmental engagement, stakeholder engagement, products and services, etc. This all sounds pretty familiar. The real premise seems to be: They are going to find out everything about your organization, so you might as well embrace transparency and, while you are at it, clean up your act. Probably not a bad idea, but the naked-corporation approach is based on a tacit assumption we got away with hiding stuff for the last 100 years and now the jig is up–the rules have changed and we need to play by the new rules.
Traditional Values
I remember one of my professors in a COBOL course I was taking many years ago also was a full-time employee of Procter & Gamble. He talked a lot about the values P&G embraced. The corporation he described was one based on integrity and honesty. He described a routine in one accounts-receivable module that verified the payment matched the invoice amount–not so much as to make certain customers were paying the full amount but to check they didn't overpay and they were receiving their appropriate discounts. I was pretty impressed by that at the time. Here was a Fortune 100 company that was more concerned with its customers than it was with maybe earning a few more dollars. My professor talked about how the culture of integrity and honesty ran throughout that organization. Was it only coincidence P&G at the time was considered to be one of the best-run corporations in the world. It impressed me enough to buy some P&G stock (which split two for one like clockwork for a long, long time).
What's It All About?
The real issue Tapscott and The Naked Corporation address is trust. Watergate, Abscam, Iran-Contra, the savings and loan scandals, Enron, last fall's insurance brokerage scandal–the list is endless. We live in an age where trust either is nonexistent or has been severely eroded. Popular television shows mock trust–the goal in Survivor is to get your fellow players to trust you enough so you can stab them in the back. No one on the The Apprentice is ever rewarded for honesty and forthrightness. We use expressions such as "trust everyone but cut the deck." No wonder we are being advised to get naked.
How about IT? Are you ready to stand naked before your stakeholders? Is the information technology group a trusted part of the organization? Think about it. Too often I hear comments such as: "Don't bother going to IT with your problems–those people aren't going to help" or "I would rather outsource this project than work with our internal programming group." I don't hear any trust in those statements. IT needs to assess its real goals. If the primary goal of IT is not to provide the business units with the technology they need to maximize their efficiency and thus maximize profits, then IT is not doing its job. Protecting data and networks and infrastructure are all necessary parts of what we do, but they are only adjunct to our real jobs. It is absolutely critical business owners trust information technology enough to allow us to provide the technology solutions they need without questioning our decisions.
If we are able to present ourselves as a trusted business ally without agenda, then we won't put ourselves in a position where we need to rid ourselves of dirty linen before we can embrace transparency. In fact, if we are that trusted ally, then we probably are buff enough to stand naked anyway.
© Touchpoint Markets, 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.