Insurance CIO/CTO Pressures, Priorities, Projects, and Plans: The View Across the Atlantic
Abstract
US and European insurance CIOs are focusing on the same business issues, but are taking a different approach to staffing and partnering with vendors.
In a new report from Celent, , Celent provides a comparative analysis about behaviors, initiatives, challenges, and priorities for 2007 between insurers in the United States and Europe, based on its in-depth surveys of 46 CIO/CTOs from the US and Europe at the end of 2006.
"There is a general convergence on business issues," says Catherine Stagg-Macey, senior analyst and one of the authors of the report. "Insurers on both sides of the Atlantic are focused on meeting market demands, especially for speed of service delivery and processing. This business driver is reflected in the IT initiatives around broker portals and other e-business projects."
"The biggest Trans-Atlantic difference is in vendor-partner utilization," notes Matthew Josefowicz, managing director of Celent's insurance practice and co-author of the report. "European insurers are much more heavily invested in outsourcing, while US insurers tend to prefer to keep development efforts in house. In addition, US insurers are much more focused on vended software applications, while Europeans are much more interested in custom-builds with consulting partners."
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Source: Celent analysis | "Data Mastery is a common theme in both regions," says co-author Ashley Evans, an analyst in Celent's insurance practice. "Insurers across the world are trying to cope with a flood of external data while getting a better handle on their own internal customer, product, process, and risk data." The 31-page report covers a broad range of areas, including detailed budget breakdowns, staffing plans and ratios, technology preferences and uses, use of Web Services and service-oriented architecture (SOA), approach to Data Mastery, and other areas. The report contains 21 figures analyzing survey responses from 46 insurer CIOs. A table of contents is available online. Members of Celent's Life/Health Insurance and Property/Casualty Insurance research services can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information. |