Lukas Promotes Hartford's P&C Synergy

In an attempt to build synergy among its business units, The Hartford Financial Services Group (Hartford)—which has separate IT leadership for each of its different divisions of P&C insurance—has created the position of chief information officer for property-casualty operations. Bob Lukas, the former president of the Hartford Technology Services Company (HTSC), The Hartford's technology consulting organization, has been promoted to the position.

Lukas says he plans to focus on maximizing the P&C organization's information technology investment by taking advantage of synergies within P&C operations through the promotion of flexibility and portability among the divisions. The Hartford "will move IT personnel around consistent with business priorities," explains Lukas. "We will develop common methodologies,so if employees are moved around they won't have to learn new architectures or platforms." Lukas will also take advantage of external partners to support non-core functions while IT personnel are shifted.

The Hartford, which in the past had its "companies" operate fairly autonomously, has restructured its operations into three main groups: corporate, P&C and life. This restructuring was done in the hope that fewer groups will allow for more cooperation and synergy within The Hartford.

Lukas says his experience as president of HTSC, where he held a business-focused role, will help him in his new role. "The experience is very beneficial, because both deal with delivering customer satisfaction," he says. "When it comes to the technology we deploy, others will make those decisions. We are working more on a business-model execution."