Even the most able of insurance CIOs may find themselves hard pressed to keep their footing on a rapidly evolving technological playing field. Yet, even if they do, they may find the rules of the game are changing too.
The complexities of the relationship between CIOs and the technologies they employ have been much discussed this week at the CIO Insurance Summit in Miami. In his keynote address, Gavin Michael, chief technology information officer, Accenture, enumerated several reasons why the role of CIO is changing so rapidly. First, the abundance of processing power and changing cost of IT has broadened the possibilities of what is possible. Another transformative current is coming for customers, who come to expect a degree of self-service and technological sophistication from their insurer unthinkable a decade ago. What’s more, the democratization of computer technology has lessened the knowledge gap between CEOs and CIOs when it comes to IT. “Now, [when these two talk technology] it’s expert to expert,” says Michael.
