Zurich, Switzerland 19 March 2008
A European insurer's IT system alignment is profiled in light of Celent's Technology Foundations of Advantage.
In a new report, , Celent explains how a European insurance company decided to adapt to market changes using a top-down approach and then managed to rethink its overall strategy before aligning IT resources.
Insurers should take note of this business case because it is a concrete example of how implementation of a new claims systems can create changes in companies' organizations, processes, and information; it also illustrates how doing so can lead to performance improvement. Indeed, many questions related to how a claims system can improve performance have been addressed:
- Processes became simpler and more consistent through the application of workflow, rules, and content management capabilities.
- More accurate operating and financial information was available to managers more quickly.
- Staff expense decreased as the claims system automated certain functions.
As a result, this business case shows how a European insurer enhanced quality of its services by providing efficient and helpful communications to all stakeholders, including policyholders, risk or benefit managers, and importantly, internal employees. In addition, risk management encompasses all the areas of insurance that involve evaluating and pricing risk throughout all stages of the product life cycle, including actuarial, product design, underwriting, claims adjusting, and reserving, all of which have been drastically improved at this insurer.
"Implementing new technologies without clear understanding of the strategic aspects often, if not always, leads to troubles," notes author and Insurance senior analyst Nicolas Michellod.
This report explores the decision path a European insurer went through to define a clear strategy and how the company then replaced its core claims system in order to meet its strategic objectives.
The 28-page report contains 17 figures and two tables. 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.
