Stop by and meet the Insurance & Technology editorial team in an informal setting. Find out who covers what, upcoming features, and let the editors know what’s going on at your organization.

Kathy Burger, Editorial Director, Insurance & Technology

Thanks to their embrace of tools and concepts such as Web services and SOA, insurers of all sizes are abandoning their lumbering, bureaucratic paper-based pasts and transforming into agile, flexible organizations focused on speed-to-market and customer-centricity. Or are they? Learn what it takes to avoid the hype and become a truly agile insurance enterprise that can flourish on an increasingly competitive and high-stakes playing field.

• Designing the right architecture.
• The next generation of governance and BPM.
• Eliminating paper and achieving true STP.
• Impact on the workforce – changing roles and responsibilities.

Insurers know better than any other industry that risk is a fact of life – and that the world is getting riskier every day. As the risks facing insurers become increasingly complex – encompassing terrorism, financial/investment/ risk, underwriting-related risk, security challenges and fraud – what are the key technologies and emerging best practices that will enable companies to survive and continue successful, profitable operations?

• Separating the hype from the hopes of enterprise risk management.
• Are analytics living up to their promise?
• Preparing for the moving target of operational risk.
• The people factor in managing risk.

Over the past 10 years the industry has endeavored to shift from a product-centric view of the business to a customer-centric view. But have insurers done enough? It’s possible to have a new kind of customized and profitable relationship with customers, thanks to the emergence of analytics tools, modeling and segmentation capabilities and Web 2.0 technologies that enable a new level of interactivity – but do insurance companies have the technological and cultural wherewithal to capitalize on these opportunities? Gain insights into what it takes to take advantage of the customer-centricity revolution from the highest-scoring large bank for customer service in the University of Michigan’s annual American Customer Service Index.

• Customer metrics that matter.
• Translating customer analytics into profitable products and services.
• Capitalizing on the consumerization of technology.
• Taking service to new levels.

Insurance executives talk about change, but do they really understand what it will take to leverage the new technologies and business models that will shape the insurance and financial services industries in the future? Is it possible for insurers to lead the way as technology innovators, or do they risk being blocked by an array of tech-savvy new competitors? This forecast will provide insights into the future of insurance technology and what it will take for companies to lead the revolution, rather than be left behind.

• Driving technology innovation.
• Taking the Web advantage to the next level.
• Tomorrow’s workforce: Insights into how Millennials live and work.
• 21st century convergence realities.
• The impact of globalization.

Share war stories, make contacts, brainstorm and learn with other executives who share your concerns on key strategic and technology issues. Choose one:

• Developing a Workforce for the Future
• Life After a Merger: Integration Challenges
• The New, Green Data Center
• The SOA Journey: Where’s the Next Stop?
• Rethinking Speed to Market
• Ease of Doing Business: The Key to Distribution Dominance
• Legacy Transformation: What’s Stopping You?
• Accelerating the Claims Value Chain

It’s not just the industry that’s transformed in the past decade – the role of the insurance company CIO has undergone a revolution, too. Insurance technology executives now wear multiple hats – financial, human resources, marketing, planning – oh yes, and IT operations, too. Are these changes good for business, or has running an insurance company IT organization become an impossible job? What skills and experience will be required of the successful insurance CIO in the future? This panel of past Elite 8 honorees reflects on the changes they’ve seen and experienced and offer some predictions about the continuing redefinition of the CIO role.

• Is vision overrated?
• Pay for performance – are CIOs earning what they’re worth?
• Must CIOs be techies?
• Is there enough diversity in the executive suite?
• How do you groom your successor?

This fast-moving debate features two of this year’s Elite 8 honorees facing off over the most controversial and challenging issues facing insurance technology executives.