NETWORKING NEWS

There’s not a carrier out there that’s not afraid that someone will start Tweeting about a bad experience.

Story on page 10

>>COVER STORY | TECH TRENDS

Smartphone Craze 6The mobility landscape is changing, and experts warn CIOs to prepare for headaches.

>>INNFOCUS—P&C

that there are sufficient reasons By Pat Speer Is Legacy a Bad Word?

The term’s pejorative aside,

insurers steeped in “legacy”

technology find the idea of

ripping these systems out

overwhelming. When positing

to justify the “legacy” status quo, an INN blogger got an earful from both insurance IT traditionalists and modernists. Find out what they and others had to say.

Story on page 12

While concepts such as cloud computing may be much more hype than reality for most insurers, forward-thinking CIOs cannot afford to ignore implications of the model. Considering the pace at which technology evolves, today’s novelty may well be tomorrow’s necessity.

Many of the trends prevalent
this year complement and ampli-
fy long-emerging ones, such as
virtualization, social networking,
mobile computing and the move
toward service-oriented architec-
tures. This confluence of factors
has many insurers not only look-
ing for opportunities to leverage
leading-edge technologies to
better run their businesses and
interact with customers, but also
to fundamentally reassess the role
of technology in their operations.
Story on page 22

By Bill Kenealy

>>SPECIAL REPORT

Farmers’ Insurance tops this year’s Insurance Networking News

INNovators Award, which recognizes key advances in the use of information technology and business practices within the insurance industry.

This year’s finalists highlight
the benefits of collaborative ini-
tiatives where a host of
resources and capabilities can be
leveraged for long-term success.
A full list of the winners, and
their unique accomplish-
ments, are list-
ed inside.
Also, as
part of this
year’s coverage, two of the
judges explore the indus-
try’s ever evolving and
distinctive approach to
innovation.

Technology Innovation Morphs Into Strategy

CIOs across a number of vertical markets are looking to technologies, such as self-service portals, business intelligence and virtualization to enhance competitiveness, while keeping down costs.