Comments for Celent Blog

Comment on Is It Just Me? #1: Insurance Commercials by Erin

Erin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:02:50 +0000

Most people don’t understand insurance… it’s the agent’s job to educate the customer. I don’t care what motivates a prospect to contact me/walk through my doors. Once I’m in front of them, I treat them with the respect they deserve, etc. I personally find the new advertising to be refreshing. It pokes fun at people’s tendencies and reasons why they need insurance. I don’t take offense to it at all.

Comment on Is there any life left in those old (life) blocks? by Stacey Cheese

Stacey Cheese — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:23:45 +0000

There are a couple of options we see being pushed these days as alternatives and both need specific circumstances to becone the best option but I thought I would make mention:

First off, Reinsurance - there are a few reinsurance firms out there with various plans for taking over the block and risk with more options than you could imagine and it does have viability

Secondly, the advent of technology means you may be able to utilize an option like Informatica ILP to archive off the data, shut down the PAS concerned and still be able to administer the block.

Again, not the most mainstream approaches of options but I thought worth a mention as you look to study this area.

Comment on The Impending Insurance Architect Crisis by James

James — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:48:04 +0000

Ben, it is important to note that carriers may benefit in working with firms such as HP which not only have talented architects from a technical perspective, but have the means to teach from both an operational perspective (think BPO) to actually developing and deploying HP Policy Administration, Rating and other insurance products. I would argue that the diversity and focus of HP is something that has the potential to make an Architect even stronger especially when the same provider is also best in breed when it comes to cloud and SaaS solutions…

Comment on The Impending Insurance Architect Crisis by insurancearch

insurancearch — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 02:04:24 +0000

Could not agree more. There is a significant difference between business-focused and strategic-thinking Enterprise/Solution Architects and technology-focused tactical-thinking Application/Integration/Data/Security Architects.
It is very easy for organisations to have a singular definition of “Architect” wherein all flavours of Architects (as mentioned above) are assigned the same job duties and even HR pay-grade levels.
Organisations must pay more attention to the needs and aspirations of various types of Architects if they really want to leverage & groom them properly. Otherwise don’t employ Architects at all - instead have tactical delivery roles such as IT Manager, BAs, Technical Leads/Developers, etc.

Comment on The big unanswered social media question – where’s the money? by James

James — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:20:15 +0000

So what is the equivalent of the Blizzard Flying Horse for insurance carriers?

Comment on Augmented reality and motor insurance - one step too far? by Anish Jacob

Anish Jacob — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:41:33 +0000

Good article.

Comment on Which U. S. P&C insurance company will be the first to use a social network as a platform to transact insurance? by Mike Fitzgerald

Mike Fitzgerald — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:44:01 +0000

Jen, I’m going with SafeAuto.

Comment on Which U. S. P&C insurance company will be the first to use a social network as a platform to transact insurance? by Jen Overhulse

Jen Overhulse — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:58:56 +0000

Hi Mike,
I agree it’s coming. Let’s go out on a limb here and say maybe a company like USAA with a younger demographic policyholder, and also a rather closed potential and existing customer base (military personnel and families).

USAA has already recognized the potential of mobile and social as a means of connecting their their highly-mobile customer base, and they certainly do sell some of the commoditized insurance products you mention above.

If not USAA, could be a Progressive or a GEICO, or one of the pay-as-you-drive auto insurers like MileMeter for example.

BTW, since word on the street is that a fully-completed Facebook profile contains 40 or more unique pieces of personally identifiable information utilizing this S.N. in particular for the purpose of conducting and concluding insurance transactions would seem the straightest line between two proverbial points…:)

Also agree it will have to be a company with a fairly youthful audience already in tune with social networking. This younger generations, Millenials, is comfortable sacrificing a certain amount of personal privacy for convenience. I’m going with USAA.

What’s your guess?
Jen

Comment on IT Professionalism in the financial services industry by James

James — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:18:05 +0000

The challenge with IT certifications is the focus on profit over competence. In the engineering trades, you can’t just take a two-day preparation course in order to be certified. You can with SCRUM though…

Comment on Strong Step Forward for Life and Annuity SaaS Solutions by James

James — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:12:06 +0000

Isn’t the idea of SaaS to receive a “service” where one receives a “capability” and should care less about what BPM engine is behind the magic curtain?