Accenture's John Cusano, reflecting on the recent Davos summit, headlines his note: “Flexibility, social skills critical for future insurance industry workforce”.
I believe the aim of all technologists is, and always has been, to erase themselves from every domain into which they've strayed.
I know this will cause a few raised eyebrows. IT has often been seen as a meddlesome influence, a minefield befogged by obscure language, and a place where people build empires. Now, sometimes things do go wrong, but the motives of IT people are usually pretty pure. They (we) can't help having pointy heads. And they (we) are getting more domesticated all the time. The consumerization of technology has made everyone a techie, so the old stereotypes about IT are even less realistic than before.
No one ever introduced a computer system with the aim of making people's lives miserable. The complexity of today's organizational IT landscapes evolved around point solutions. Bringing order and flexibility to this situation has itself been a complex task. But with modern technologies, architectural discipline, and of course data standards, today's IT is becoming more and more commoditized, adaptive, and transparent.
So, here's the thing: The great advances in digital technology are all connected to the goal of liberating people to do what they do best. Insurance is a highly social business. The math and the processes are needed to make it work. But the essence of insurance is trust. And trust will always be a feature of human beings and their dealings with each other.
Comments