A Voyage Worth Taking
expert navigation can make data migration worth the risks.
By Mike Dufton and Philip Magnall
Pretend for a moment that you’re a colonist-to-be—a voyager with a world of opportunity awaiting you on the other side of the
ocean. The trip won’t be easy, but the
rewards will outweigh the costs, and
they will far outweigh staying put.
This scenario is analogous to the
world of data migration. You may inherently know that it’s time to seek passage
out of your current situation, but the
rationale has never seemed strong
enough to propel you to go buy the
ticket. Many organizations simply put
off data migration because of uncertainties, asking “Why risk it when it can
wait?” Other organizations take the
plunge too quickly and find migration
harder than they thought it would be.
The best way to find out if data migration works for your organization is
to look at the immediate and long-term
costs you may be incurring. In the long
term, it is probably costing more to
maintain your data than it would after a
data migration. The premiums that cover your costs will need to stay the same
or rise, which puts continued pressure
on profitability. Your costs of business
acquisition are higher. If you administer policies on multiple systems, you
are likely to continue paying for the in-efficiencies involved in redundancy.
In recent years, IT has become busi-
ness’ partner in driving operational ef-
ficiencies. The presence of tools de-
signed specifically for data migration
have allowed projects to be operated on
fixed timescales with quantifiable, pre-
dictable results seen by everyone in
your organization.
Benefits of Migration
The long-term financial and operation-
al benefits to a data migration are var-
ied, and encompass the whole of your
a timely data migration. The hardware
supporting legacy data is often costlier to
maintain than newer servers and IT in-
frastructure. Migration allows these sys-
tems to come offline. New IT resources
will have more experience with these
newer platforms, saving you on training
costs as well.
The long-term financial and
operational benefits to a
data migration are varied,
and encompass the whole
of your business.
business. First, migrating your data
most often brings a new, streamlined
approach to any task that interacts with
it. Customer service improves, and users can immediately access the data they
need without having to look through
numerous systems. Your relationship
with agents can improve too, as their
productivity receives a boost from the
consolidated information. Administrative personnel and clients also will see
improvements in the time that it takes
them to interact with your systems.
Another benefit that often goes un-
noticed is what you avoid by conducting
your company’s portfolio. This can ul-
timately lead to a better valuation of the
entire company, providing a positive re-
turn on your investment even before
the more traditional cost reductions are
realized. For actuaries, improved data
management also increases the report-
ing capabilities they need to make good
decisions on new product development.
Benefits can stretch as far a field as mar-
keting, where a unified, clean data envi-
ronment produces a much clearer pic-
ture of the customers your company
needs to reach. Opportunities for up-
and cross-selling that previously had
gone unseen can be now be identified
and exploited.
For more about risks of modernization, search “Migratory
Motivations” at www.insurancenetworking.com.
