Insurers Can Relate to the Challenges Facing a National CTO

Insurance industry technology executives who either have experienced or are contemplating major systems and infrastructure overhauls -- descriptions that probably would apply to just about every insurance technology executive -- should be following President-elect Barack Obama's plans to name a Chief of Technology to his cabinet.The lucky (?) person in this position will be charged with addressing the challenges the government and its myriad agencies face in terms of systems modernization and integration, along with the need and opportunity to organize, access and analyze a huge amount of citizen data. These assignments parallel the very similar kinds of tasks that have tested insurance executives for years.

While many of you may smugly conclude, "Been there, done that," it will be both compelling and instructional to see who ultimately takes on the government role, how the federal IT strategy evolves, and how much success (or failure) the new technology team encounters along the way. A very interesting discussion about the challenges the new Chief of Technology will face took place recently on the National Public Radio show The Takeaway. The interview was with Clay Shirkey, a teacher at NYU's graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, and the author of "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations." I guarantee that anyone involved in the business of insurance technology will be nodding in agreement.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio