Life divisions in multi-line companies are expected to produce digital experiences and technological capabilities comparable to their property/casualty counterparts—all while executing projects with leaner budgets and challenging data and application management issues. Despite these challenges, life CIOs can take steps to ensure the advancement of their organizations’ priorities by adopting strategies to enable business growth, capture market share, and adapt to changes in the marketplace.
The long duration of life policies, significant first-year acquisition costs, and lower volume of life/annuities policies can create enormous financial challenges when replacing legacy systems. There are also fundamental differences in the way life IT departments organize, allocate budgets, and share data and applications. Due to these differences, life CIOs must be creative to provide positive ROI and value to their customers. They might use strategies such as leveraging the corporate enterprise, maximizing the technologies of larger divisions, and practicing the art of working within a lean budget. Life business executives should also strategically propose investments that appeal to the broader organization.
Some life CIOs choose to implement newer systems and retrain staff on new platforms and methodologies while others support different products that are simpler but also require more digital capabilities. No matter the approach, life/annuities insurers should work incrementally and be conservative in decision-making, as it can be difficult to pivot with larger deployments. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, but life CIOs that leverage their business intimacy, enterprise resources, and effective internal communications can thrive under the shadow of their larger corporate siblings to move their organizations forward.
For further reading, check out: Key Issues and Best Practices for Life CIOs in P/C Companies.
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