Getting Ready for Spring

BY ROD TRAVERS, Executive Vice President with The Robert E. Nolan Company

With the cold, dark days of the recession hopefully behind us, what now? With apologies to Punxsutawney Phil, the economy has been seeing its shadow for well over two years now. It's also been a long winter for the insurance industry, and it's about time we had some springtime weather around here. The economy is beginning a fragile recovery, tempered by factors such as housing and automobile sales, which continue to fluctuate and even contradict expectations from one month to the next. And unemployment remains uncomfortably high.

Green Shoots

BY GEORGE GRIEVE, CEO of CastleBay Consulting

Underwriting and claims are two areas on which IT can exert a positive impact to support growth. Is the glass half empty, or is it half full? By many measures the insurance industry has had the worst couple of years in a long time—and yet the industry, particularly property/casualty, rode a mild hurricane season, redundant reserves, and the nondiscretionary nature of its business to an encouraging conclusion in 2009. A weakened but still strong insurance vertical is poised for growth in 2010 and beyond, assuming the "green shoots" keep sprouting and growing.

The Next Big Thing

BY MATTHEW JOSEFOWICZ, Director of Novarica

Insurers' focus today is on solving known problems to compete. In the economic crisis that began the last decade, many insurers looked at IT as part of the problem. In the most recent economic crisis, IT has been viewed as part of the solution. As insurers position themselves to take advantage of the recovery, they acknowledge the mature markets are unlikely to grow significantly and any significant growth will come from outperforming their peers. They remain committed to making continued technology investments improve customer and distributor service, achieve faster time to market, and use enterprise data to make better decisions in marketing, product design, risk management, and operations.

WEBINAR: The Road to Recovery - How to Position IT for the Business Push

Thursday, February 25 at 2 PM EST

Will your business bounce back in 2010? Learn what you need to do now to make sure your profits grow in this Web Seminar. Join us as industry experts and advisors discuss their forecasts for this year. Plus, you'll have a chance to ask your own questions.

What you'll learn: