Clauson Heads Group IT At Mutual of Omaha

Following a three-year leadership role in information security at Mutual of Omaha (Omaha, Neb., $16 billion in assets), Steve Clauson has taken on the responsibility of leading all information services activities in support of the carrier's group benefit services operations and I/S customer service.

The appointment comes as Mutual of Omaha is moving toward more autonomous management of business lines. While the carrier formerly had centralized management of functions such as sales and underwriting across the company, under the new paradigm, "people in charge of lines will have top-to-bottom authority," Clauson says. "That means IT will roll out some solutions for individual units, while also facing the challenge to leverage systems across different units when it makes sense."

In order to provide the IT vision and support necessary to bring the group business to the next level, Clauson sees his task as one of taking an "outside-looking-in" approach to existing systems and information. "Our focus is going to be to enhancing the customer's experience," he says.

Improvements to existing systems include implementation of TriZetto's (Newport Beach, Calif.) Facets administration system, the rollout of which has already begun. "We also have a project underway to automate document flow, making sales input electronic and seamlessly transferred to the back-end system," Clauson reports. Plans are also afoot for implementing wireless technology in support of field operations, he adds. "We're going to use wireless connectivity for both e-mail and file transfer capability."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio