Pamela Pecs Cytron, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pendo Systems

“The winners will be those able to integrate their policyholders’ information, risk profiles and actuarial models in line with their SOA and STP technology efforts.”

It is a pleasure to have you back with us this year Pamela. What was the key to success last year in integrating data and improving straight-through processing?

The biggest challenge for organizations when addressing the issue of STP deployment within their enterprise is the tendency to “boil the ocean” instead of breaking the effort down into manageable and succinct tasks that can achieve success over the mid to long term. The key is for management to align their strategic vision with their goals for STP.

What should companies be focused on this year?

Consolidation is going to continue resulting in a less fragmented industry. This will create the need for significant integration, meaning that we will see the adoption of more Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), leveraging open standards like XML, become the cornerstone of technology strategies. As insurers gain a more enterprise view of their data, the critical step will be to enable cross-segment efficiencies in areas like policy administration, product development, customer service, and investment accounting.

Exciting advancements?

One of the exciting things about the consolidation of the industry is the combination of risk management and regulatory reporting. Although seen as a necessary evil by some, there is the opportunity to turn this into competitive advantage by removing the more adhoc approach. Some of the more visible strategies to reduce costs are the standardizations around the use of XBRL for FASB, NAIC and SEC reporting – with the “Green” benefits of electronic reporting becoming a reality. Leveraging your STP efforts as a means to abolish data silos can translate into fast access to data.

And your one message that you would leave with insurance companies?

Managing information processes efficiently is important to the insurance industry, where the flow and processing of information is the critical life-blood toward a firm’s growth and survival. However, it is fair to say that the industry continually struggles with its ability to store, measure, and use their data at the core of their operations. The winners will be those able to integrate their policyholders’ information, risk profiles and actuarial models in line with their SOA and STP technology efforts.