A recent survey of P&C insurers by Fiserv indicates that when it comes to technology, carriers are most concerned about things like core systems, agency interface, billing and claims, and business process management. That's all well and good, but what I find shocking is that "data security" is missing from the list.
Certainly, it is clear that business processes and customer- and agency-facing technology are keys to doing business better, but data security may be the key to continuing to do business at all.
Of course, I didn't see the survey questions themselves, and it may be that respondents had pre-specified choices that did not include security technology projects. If that is so, then Fiserv needs to re-think this survey. If, on the other hand, the questions were open-ended, then shame on the insurers for burying their heads in the sand on this most critical issue.
Surveys aside, it seems to me that this industry continues to be rather sleepy-eyed on the subject of security--despite the increasing number of high proifle data breaches that affect literally millions of customers. What customer service initiative is more important than keeping the customer's personal and sensitive data secure and private?
To me it seems that the insurance industry is going blithely along its way, paying some attention to obvious issues, but avoiding the threats that could literally bring companies to their knees.
"Sure," carriers think, "there could be a breach, but that won't happen to me. It happens to those other guys."
What is truly frightening is that such childish thinking seems to permeate our industry. Didn't we learn anything from the ChoicePoint fiasco?
So what do you think. Are insurers opting for the subterranean sand shampoo, or is anyone truly paying attention out there?
Comments (2)
Just a guess, but here's my 2 cents' worth:
All the carriers/vendors I've worked with on PAS systems are acutely aware of these issues and have built requirements to protect that information. It may be that they tend to refer to this as "Privacy" as opposed to "Security," to distinguish from what has been traditionally thought of as User IDs, System Access/Permissions, etc.
Posted by Anon | July 11, 2007 3:44 PM
Posted on July 11, 2007 15:44
Hmmm... Does this really all come down to semantics? Somehow I see the silence on this topic as too deafening to attribute it to simple miscommunication.
Posted by Ara Trembly | July 12, 2007 9:28 AM
Posted on July 12, 2007 09:28