Specialty Insurers' Top 5 Tech Priorities

Novarica released a report, Business and Technology Trends: Specialty Lines Insurers today, co-authored by Martina Conlon and Steve Kaye. It includes an overview of the specialty lines marketplace, including recent technology investments by specialty insurers, as well as carriers' business and technology issues.

"The primary concerns of specialty insurers continue to be growth, expense reduction across the enterprise, and operational effectiveness," Conlon says in a statement. "Specialty insurers' technology strategies reflect these priorities."

[I&T Q&A: Conlon on why big data isn't yet a best practice in insurance]

Among the priorities of specialty insurers, according to the report:

• Upgrading or replacing their policy administration systems to improve underwriting and enable product development flexibility to enter profitable niches

• Investing in business intelligence, ensuring that data are accurate and complete for models to reflect carriers' books of business

• CRM and distribution technology, to manage compliance, compensation, and relationships across multiple channels with greater effectiveness

• Agent connectivity including real-time upload, download, and data translation

• Claims administration upgrades, to improve claims handling and data quality, which will lead to better outcome management

“The capture and management of detailed data, both structured and unstructured, is key to successful underwriting and pricing on the part of specialty insurers,” Kaye adds in a statement.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio