Gartner has outlined top 10 technologies that will have a great impact for property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry and will challenge existing business processes, support emergence of new business models and will allow companies to differentiate themselves.
The firm said that the adoption of modern policy and claims management systems by personal and commercial P&C insurers can reduce total cost of ownership, provide easier integration with surrounding systems and improve long-term maintenance; and the use of web services/service-oriented architecture (SOA) enables companies to deploy services instead of using one-to-one integration, helping them improve straight-through processing (STP) capabilities.
According to Gartner, business intelligence and analytics will also make an impact as P&C insurers are increasing their focus on improving how data is used and the value derived from past investments in data warehousing while predictive-modeling technology will help insurers analyze data and create models which will enable them to predict future behaviors or outcomes.
Gartner also noted that advanced fraud detection solutions will help insurers reduce losses and leakage to retain profitability; BPM solutions to enable companies to model, analyze and test business processes independent of core systems; and Web 2.0 and social networking technology to gain knowledge regarding consumer behavior and opinions, and improve competitive intelligence, generate leads and strengthen brand.
Other technologies that will have impact on P&C insurance industry include portal and internet technologies, mobile devices/technologies and product development and configuration solutions. The firm said that new systems will help drive down product development cost but, more importantly, will allow insurers to improve speed to market for new products.
Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst of Gartner, said: “With budgets challenged and with limited funding for discretionary spending, it is imperative that organizations prioritize their investments favoring those that will generate the greatest ROI and drive the most value.”