Greetings, insurance technology lovers. Is there an issue in our technology universe that concerns you, energizes you, disgusts you, or just plain honks you off? If so, you've come to the right place.
Ever since I migrated from pure technology into insurance tech in the last century, I've been trying to figure out how this data-intensive industry has survived--and even thrived--without being on the bleeding edge of technology development. When I first began speaking to insurance audiences, I told them they were two years behind the curve when it came to technology adoption. "No!" they corrected me. "We're five years behind!"
Yet insurance continues to be one of the most solid sectors of our economy. It's almost as if we didn't need technology. It's true, of course, that insurers were among the first adopters of mainframe technology stretching back to the 1970s, but the rub is that many of those old clunkers are still clunking away today. As time went on, however, carriers started getting more competitive, margins started shrinking, and all of a sudden pedestrian ideas like technology-enabled sales, operations and customer service became hugely important. Driven by efficiencies spawned by rapidly increasing computing power and the growth of the World Wide Web, terms like ROI became the order of the day and insurers started thinking seriously about updating systems.
The resulting activity--or, in some cases, lack of activity--has generated a host of debates and clashes of opinion. Maybe you've been a participant in one of those discussions--or maybe you wished you could be.
Well, now is your chance. Of course, I invite you to respond to anything and everything I say here or in National Underwriter, but I also welcome your comments on virtually any topic that touches on how, where or why technology is used in our industry. You'll also have an opportunity to respond to the comments of others, and to have others comment on your commentary. Ours is an online dialogue that should yield ideas that benefit our companies, agents, brokers and third-party administrators. The bottom line is that thinking and talking and thinking and talking some more is good for our industry as a whole.
I look forward to your contributions.