A word used quite a bit in the insurance technology dictionary these days is "disruption." Most of us would prefer "smooth sailing," but given the pace of change we deal with on an almost day-by-day level, disruption has become the more common occurrence.
Our friends at Novarica recently published a report on the top five disruptors for insurers over the next five years and interviewed 70 CIOs from both the property & casualty world and the life & annuity side. There should be no surprise that the two sides didn't agree on which areas will cause the biggest disruption. It sometimes seems like the only thing the two sides really have in common is the word "insurance."
For p&c technology leaders, shifting market needs was far and away the leader, cited by 42 percent of the respondents. The next closest was regulation, with 16 percent, although if they were a mind to it, I'm sure our nation's insurance bureaucrats could easily find a way to match the changing market disruption by disruption.
The other three options were increased catastrophes, big data/analytics, and the financial environment. I suppose it says something that CIOs in 2013 believe the changing market is more of a disruption than a truer IT issue such as big data/analytics.
A lot of factors could fall under the heading of the changing market, which I believe could cover everything from mobile technology to distribution channels. Certainly the hard market could fall under that label as well, if we can ever agree that we have one.
What makes disruption an important factor for CIOs is the increased dependence on IT departments to help lead the enterprise. The ability to lead has always been an important factor in any business, but with the speed of change in technology today, being able to tread water while analyzing all that is going on around you is not to be underestimated.
For those curious about what is going on with the life & annuity market, regulation—with 47 percent—was selected as the biggest disruption followed by the financial environment. It's nice to know that even as disruptions go, the life & annuity side remains somewhat predictable.
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