For most of the year, insurance IT leaders like to keep information about their strategic efforts out of the media, but each spring they burst from their shells to discuss the direction technology is headed. At last week's ACORD LOMA conference and next week's IASA conference, insurance IT leaders have and will intermingle with their counterparts as well as with vendors, analysts and consultants to discuss the problems they face and the challenges of 2012 and beyond.
If there is one word on the lips of everyone in the insurance industry today it is mobile. Rarely have we seen an issue jump to such prominence in such a short period of time. The industry is a long way from comprehending the full value mobile technology has for the industry, but they certainly are moving in that direction in a frantic pace. At a press conference with 18 separate insurance solution providers at ACORD LOMA, six of them used the M word before addressing anything else.
Smartphones and tablet devices are not just fun accessories for consumers; they are ways of transacting business—for consumers as well as business users. Just imagine being able to attach a credit-card reader to your smart phone to close sales and collect premiums simultaneously. As ACORD LOMA keynote speaker Nick Bilton showed his audience, mobile is limited only by our imaginations.
The second major area of discussion was and is social media. This may cause some veteran insurance people to shake their heads, but if they want to remain a relevant part of the industry over the next few years they not only need to understand the capabilities of social media, but embrace it as well.
Not everyone needs to tweet news about themself or post pictures of the kids on Facebook, but business people better recognize that their customers and clients are doing just that. Oh, and by the way, they may be posting some information about their insurance needs or concerns—maybe even about your company or agency.
Communication is changing and it is essential that we embrace that change. Neighbors don't gossip over the backyard fence anymore. They spread the word to hundreds or even thousands of friends electronically. The combination of social media and mobile technology make these two industry efforts that need to be at the top of any business list in 2011.
While mobility and social media cross multiple industries, there are three vertical challenges that I expect IASA attendees to continue discussing next week in Nashville, just as they did last week in San Diego:
- Core solutions: Replacing legacy solutions in both policy administration and claims continues to be a major worry for those who haven't had the courage or the financing to proceed, and they are competitive advantages for those that were lucky enough to get these issues started. The world is turning on a dime and businesses that don't have the flexibility or agility to turn with it are going to be left behind.
- Analytics and business intelligence: Being smarter than your competition doesn't always guarantee victory, but as the old saying goes, that's where you should probably place your bets. Data projects are scary and time consuming, but why have you bothered collecting all that data if you don't know what to do with it?
- Real-time download: Whatever you want to focus on—straight-through processing, SEMCI—you are almost certain to make your independent agents happy and happy agents are productive agents. There is plenty more discussion concerning real time for commercial lines as well. That side of the business got off to a rough start with real-time download, but there's no reason to believe it's impossible to achieve.
IASA promises to be a wonderful place to continue these discussions, particularly in the CIO Roundtable as well as around a few round tables where the discussion is more private, but certainly animated.
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