Insurer IT Budgets Holding Steady for 2021 Despite Pandemic, as Shift to Cloud Continues

Life insurers investing to catch up in digital; Property/Casualty insurers’ priorities remain the same

Boston, MA (Oct. 6, 2020) – Insurer IT spending levels and priorities remain largely consistent with the past few years, despite the pandemic, according to the 13th annual Insurer IT Budgets and Projects report from research and advisory firm Novarica. The report also finds that while Life & Annuity insurers continue to prioritize digital rather than product innovation, Property & Casualty insurers’ priorities have largely returned to normal.

“Despite the disruption and uncertainty of the present time, insurers’ key challenges and priorities remain essentially consistent with recent years,” said Matthew Josefowicz, president and CEO of Novarica. “Insurers should consider the potential value they can create by using technology to sell more, manage risk better, and cost less to operate in this dynamic environment, rather than treat technology as an expense to be managed to historical norms.”

Among the key findings of the reports are:

• Life insurers are focused heavily on digital, less on new products. Many large and midsize insurers recognize their weak portal capabilities and are planning investment.
• Property/casualty insurers’ priorities have not been changed by the pandemic. They remain focused on speed to market, analytics, and distributor support.
• Cloud is growing rapidly, outsourcing slowly. Three quarters of insurers are increasing their cloud footprint; only about 25% are increasing blended staffing or infrastructure outsourcing.

Click here for the table of contents or to access the report.

Report Summary

Overall, insurer IT spending levels and priorities are largely consistent with the past few years, despite the pandemic. The biggest shift is the increased priority of digital initiatives among life insurers. The industry remains focused on perennial challenges: increasing ease of doing business for all stakeholders, improving analytics-driven insights, and increasing speed to market. Limited resources and talent availability remain the biggest challenges, with additional organizational pressures due to operating remotely.

This report analyzes the results of the 13th annual survey of more than 100 insurer CIO members of the Novarica Insurance Technology Research Council.

Topics:

• Budgets, including growth rates and breakdowns by spend type and focus area
• Priorities and challenges for insurer IT organizations for 2021 and beyond
• Current system capabilities and replacement plans across the Novarica Insurance Core Systems Map

Click here for the table of contents or to access the report.

About Novarica

Novarica helps more than 100 insurers make better decisions about technology projects and strategy through retained advisory services, published research, and strategy consulting. Its knowledge base covers trends, benchmarks, best practices, case studies, and vendor solutions. Leveraging the expertise of its senior team and more than 300 CIO Research Council members, Novarica provides clients with the ability to make faster, better, more informed decisions. Its consulting services focus on vendor selection, custom benchmarking, project checkpoints, and IT strategy. For more information, visit www.novarica.com.

Source: Novarica