More and more insurers are investing in modernizing their policy administration capabilities, but joint research by SMA and Insurance & Technology has found that projects remain challenged because of poor understanding of needed business capabilities, deficient project management and over-reliance on outside expertise. I&T examines SMA's findings and explores the terms of success and failure of policy administration projects.
Insurers Continue to Struggle With Policy Administration Modernization
According to a joint study by Insurance & Technology and Strategy Meets Action, more than half of insurers' policy administration projects over the past two years have gone over time and budget, and a third exceeded technology and business scope. Karen Furtado, a partner with SMA, discusses what insurers can learn from the study's findings.
Defining the Terms of Policy Administration Modernization Success
To improve the chances that their policy administration system projects will succeed, insurers must align stakeholders and review their project management, staff and methodology. They also must clarify their technology expectations and translate their aspirations into concrete terms that can be mapped against system capabilities.
Rethinking Efficiency to Drive Growth
The question of whether or not to modernize policy administration systems no longer generates much debate -- roughly one in four insurers have a modern system in place, and more than 50 percent of those that don't are moving toward implementation of new systems, according to SMA's study, "Policy Administration Systems: Positioning for the Future," jointly produced with I&T. But change doesn't come easily. I&T editorial director Katherine Burger spoke with SMA partner Karen Furtado about the business drivers and goals behind policy admin investments.
