Insurance-Canada.ca - Where Insurance & Technology Meet

Summertime, And The Living Is … Frenzied?

With 2013 more than half over, some days it feels as though we’ve done a whole year’s worth of work already and there’s still a year of work more before the calendar year ends. Is this an exceptional period, or another “new normal”?  And is there anything that can help?  We’ve got some thoughts and would like to hear yours.

So what’s going on?

Way back in January, we looked at some of the trends for 2013.  We saw insurers and brokers facing some unprecedented challenges with customer engagement, intelligent business systems, new data sources (e.g., telematics).

Overall, we saw the year being dominated by a need for “focused use of analytics to support specific strategic and operational objectives.”  Easy to say; not so easy to do with aging technologies and processes.

We concluded that the environment would be dominated by disruptive forces, including the potential entry of net new players into the insurance environment.  Organizations committed to surviving and thriving would have to step up their game.  And they did.

Busy Busy Busy

A number of organizations have embarked on legacy systems replacements.  These organizations are now re-doubling their efforts and looking to add improved functionality and analytics to the mix.  Brokers are upgrading systems and adding customer facing applications.  Industry associations are developing mobile applications to help their members tap into new social network trends.

In short, we’re creating an environment to manage a future we are only coming to understand as it emerges.

It’s hard to keep track.  So what can be done?

Knowledge of the Long Game is Power

While planning for 2013, Insurance-Canada.ca put together a group of practitioners and consultants who were interested in comparing notes on coming trends.  We called this the “Insurance 2023 Group”.

Through periodic conference calls, this group has identified a number of trends.  We have posted some of the discussions, including the group’s thoughts on, Telematics, Analytics.  We also conducted a series of surveys based on some of the group’s views on the shape of the industry.

As we begin the planning season, we are scheduling a half day briefing for the group to share its thoughts on a few key trends.  We haven’t selected a specific venue, but we have selected a location and date: Toronto,  October 3, 2013.

If you’re interested in a forum for discussing trends, and seeing how your work fits in with others, this will be the place to be.  Stay tuned to this site … We’ll add more details.

But what do you think?

In the meantime, we’d be interested in your opinions.  Is your work changing as well as increasing?  Is the shape of the industry morphing? What are the trends that are most significant.

Take a sip of something cool, put your feet up, and let your fingers do the talking.  We’re listening.

2 Comments

Jorrit Wit

We are hearing: Mobile is typically done internally, Cloud is interesting so long as the data resides in Canada. People that understand security know that this is largely irrelevant. BI and UI are of real interest, P+C companies are interested in reinsurance system administration systems since the large SA systems are not covering this aspect well. QA is of interest, since what and how things are being tested is really changing.

We are happy to participate if we can add value to the forum.

Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditor

Note: Jorrit Witt works for NTT Data.
-Ed.

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