Insurers should invest in tech, report warns
INSURERS need to make significant investment in technology and improve how they analyse data in order to keep pace with newer entrants to the market, according to a new report from State Street.
The report, Platforms for Growth: Technology Innovations in the Insurance Business, claims that although insurers show an appetite for change, they are “struggling to build a solid technology foundation”.
State Street surveyed more than 300 insurers from around the world, and found that 86 per cent of insurers are still challenged by legacy IT issues, with 93 per cent saying they need a new IT infrastructure to integrate and manage data.
The report said that astute insurers recognize that “new, digitally savvy entrants” will use technology to disrupt established insurance markets and warned: “Postponing digital transformation is not an option.”
Ian Cohen, group CIO of Jardine Lloyd Thompson, commented: “Most insurers already have 90 per cent of the data they need. But it’s buried away, and therefore currently has no value to anyone. It’s important for our industry to turn information into insight to make the data real.”