The Asian Insurance Congress 2010 was a huge success

Tags: asia/pacific, insurance, it priorities

We hosted the annual IDC Financial Insights' Asian Insurance Congress (AIC) 2010 last Thursday at the Pan Pacific in Singapore. This full day knowledge-centric and networking conference witnessed in excess of 200 managerial to C-level insurance executives and financial technology vendors across the region.

The presentations were both informative and thought-provoking, covering a range of issues -- from the perennial concern over the need to be more customer-centric (for which, we had an excellent session by Kevin Goulding, CEO of Chartis Singapore), to examples on how to utilize innovative IT solutions to reinvent customer relationships (by Paul Robinson, the Insurance Industry Leader from IBM), to discussions on corporate governance and risk mitigation (by Stephen Blasina, SVP and SEA Regional Manager, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies) as regulators across Asia put forth preemptive reforms to tighten the management of insurers.

We also had the opportunity to sit through presentations by Russ Mathews, Director-Consulting, Marketing Analytics at Experian who discussed  about how insurers can  unlock  the benefits from customer segmentation through business analytics; Mabini Juan, the President of Philippine Life Insurance Association Inc (PLIA) on change transformation initiatives; Carl Rajendram, the CEO of Insurance Services Malaysia who talked about how insurers can adopt a more industry intelligent approach to managing fraud; and Martin Bridger, the Managing Director for Liberty Insurance who explored the non-life bancassurance scene and suggested solutions on how the current low penetration ratios can be tackled. Analysts from IDC Financial Insights and guest moderators also chaired four panel discussions at the congress, allowing delegates to raise questions for the panelists.

The event ended with an excellent and engaging session by our ardent supporter and good friend, Tsukasa Makino from the IT & Corporate Planning Department of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance in Japan. He, together with a colleague, shared with the audience on how Tokio Marine is collaborating with NTT DoCoM to cultivate a "blue-ocean" market using mobile technologies to sell insurance anytime, anywhere, at the customers' convenience.

I personally enjoyed and learnt a great deal from all these presentations, and several of the pointers continue to resonate in my mind after the sessions. We also had coverage from print and TV media, including airtime on the business news on channelnewsasia for some of the speakers and myself. And as with all IDC Financial Insights' events, feedback from the delegates were overwhelmingly positive, as evident from several very encouraging post-event feedback mails and comments I have been receiving.

I want to thank the executives who took time off their hectic schedules to be with us at AIC 2010, congratulate the lucky draw winners once again, and let you all know that we will be dropping a note shortly with the login information to access presentations slides, photos from the event, and sending across your participation certificate. Thank you once again for your involvement and I look forward to welcoming you back to AIC 2011 in August next year! For those of you who could not be at AIC 2010, have a peek at http://www.idc.com.sg/insurecongress/2010/.   

Demonstrating public sector agility - Singapore's IDA surges ahead with egovernment revitalization plans

Tags: government, public policy, social media, web 2.0, it priorities

IDC Government Insights'  latest report "Opportunities Abound: Analysis of Singapore's US$720 Million Public Sector FY10 ICT Procurement Plans (Doc #AP9694104S, June 2010) " reveals that the Singapore government's future ICT procurement plans will revolve around new technology areas such as business intelligence (BI), ubiquitous presence and social media.  

This finding was echoed in a recent interview which Straits Times did with James Kang  (Chief Information Officer at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore). In the interview, James shared that the Singapore government is starting to transform its online citizenry services to leverage on the rapidly evolving ICT environment that the nation is building upon.

There is also a strong indication that the government is planning to boost collaborations; and, it is not just within the government organization, but also with various stakeholders such as the ICT industry and the citizenry it serves. Increased collaborative engagements through social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are likely to be pursued.

As the government pushes ahead with the upcoming iGovt2015 public sector masterplan, IDC Government Insights expects to see strategic directives in revitalizing public services, systems consolidation and sustainability business solutions.

To date, Singapore has received several international accolades for its e-government excellence. This success however, is not an overnight miracle. Singapore's computerization journey first began almost 30 years ago with the Civil Service Computerization Program that was primarily targeted at automating work functions and reducing paperwork for greater internal operational efficiencies.  

Ultimately, egovernment efforts are not all about the implementation of technology alone, but also, the changing approach to the way the government delivers its traditional services. James also said in the interview that the key to successful egovernment implementation lies in changing mindsets and taking calculated risks within the government. I can't agree more with this statement. In addition to "changing mindsets and taking calculated risks," strong leadership directives and commitment from all stakeholders involved remains crucial ingredients of successful egovernment transformation.

Are Vendors Really Moving Toward Open Standards-Based Offerings to End Users?

Tags: asia/pacific, it priorities

There have been multiple acquisitions recently with vendors acquiring complementary or competing products to consolidate their position and offer an integrated solution to end users. Other vendors with limited offerings rely on ecosystems with multiple alliances to position their products as solutions.

Some alliances achieve desired objectives. However, vendors do face execution challenges across geographies. Alliances also pose high risk. For example, the alliance partner that has been acquired may jeopardize joint investments, support to customers, and exploit intellectual property.

Vendors are becoming more critical in selecting partners and are increasingly focusing on the long-term viability of partners. Also, the alliances are gradually becoming strategic partnerships with focus on joint product development and go-to-market activities.

However, despite vendors’ verbal commitments to adopt more standard based open architectures, their integrated systems approach is limiting the openness with select few options to end users.

The benefits of acquisition or strategic alliances may be faster ROI, cost reduction, ease of deployment, among others. However, there is a trade-off with higher risk of being locked-in.

As information technology is becoming strategic and integrated to businesses, end users’ journey with vendors is becoming very critical. End users need to look at “openness” in vendors’ solutions, scalability, viability of product, ROI, cost, long-term support, and diversify their risk well before engaging with them.

What does the Future Hold for the Insurance Industry?

Tags: insurance, it priorities, asia/pacific

While the industry’s resilience was undoubtedly tested during the economic fallout, insurers have nevertheless weathered the economic malaise with immense vigilance and fervor. Although today's global economic climate may still be fraught with unpredictability, profound challenges and changing regulatory landscapes, new business opportunities abound in both matured and emerging insurance markets.

Now is the opportune time for insurers to revolutionize their business strategies and architectures in an effort to steer themselves back to a growth trajectory. Insurers that are staying one step ahead of the competition are those that are able to create a more dynamic business framework via the assistance of technology, take on operational improvement initiatives, explore alternative distribution channels while staying customer-centric, and place more rigor on compliance and risk mitigation techniques, amongst others.

This year, as the world emerges from the global financial upheaval, IDC Financial Insights is taking the opportunity to reconvene the Asian Insurance Congress 2010, a knowledge-centric and networking conference for insurers across this region. This Congress will be the platform for industry executives to engage with prominent thought leaders as they share their views and experiences in building up successful operations in the rapidly growing and diverse insurance markets in the Asia/Pacific region.

Join me at this Congress in Singapore on 26th August to hear industry thought-leaders share their views on:

Hope and Optimism for 2010 and Beyond
- Regulatory Measures: Steering Insurers onto More Stable Ground
- Industry Outlook: A Sneak Peek of Future Opportunities
- Ready for the Upturn: Crafting the Winning Formula for Insurers
- Rethinking Your Business Operating Model
- Embracing a Tech-Savvy Culture: Panacea to Business Sustainability and Efficiency
- Increasingly on the Radar: Corporate Governance and Risk Mitigation
- Beyond Fraud Management 101: Elevating Fraud Detection and Prevention to New Levels

A Corporate Blueprint for Effective Business and Technology Processes
- Core Systems Enhancements: Out with the Old, In with the New?
- Change Transformation Initiatives: Adopting Process Reengineering to Optimize Business Performance
- Streamlining Data Processes: Transforming Noise into Valuable Information
- Adoption of Alternative Technology Delivery Models: Has this Gone Mainstream, or are we still at the Bleeding-Edge of Adoption?
- Alternative Technology Consumption Models: A Case Study

Strategic Approach Toward Fostering Market Sustainability
- Customer Centricity: Your New Age Marketing Tool
- Business Analytics: Unlocking the Benefits from Customer Segmentation
- Ensuring an Effective Agency Channel Management
- Alternative Distribution Channels: Moving to Higher Gear
- Core Fundamentals in Managing Bancassurance Relationships

Growth Opportunities from Alternative Lines
- Micro-insurance: Beyond Social Protection to Bottomline Benefits
- Product Innovation: Positioning your Insurer to Capture Opportunities in Health Insurance

This is definitely an event not to be missed by insurance practitioners and service providers. Attendance is complimentary for professionals from insurance organizations. Do visit http://www.idc.com.sg/insurecongress/2010/ for more information and I look forward to seeing you there!

Concerns in the Cloud: Issues for Manufacturers

Tags: cloud computing, manufacturing, supply chain, it priorities

The CIOs of many manufacturing companies are in a dilemma; they are being tasked to reduce costs, optimize existing infrastructure investments, and provide new applications to support the business. Whilst it is easy to say these things, the delivery of new strategic applications to the business, with a smaller team, is much more difficult. One possible solution to the CIO's dilemma is the use of cloud computing.

However, our research shows that whilst cloud options are being considered, manufacturers have a number of concerns that vendors will need to address.

According to the IDC Manufacturing Insights Asia/Pacific Business and IT Priorites survey, April 2009:

The biggest concern is security: close to 60% of the survey respondents cited confidentiality of company information as their prime concern. The need to protect financial information is a given, and this typically has not been an area where we see interest in cloud computing initiatives. But even if we look beyond the ERP systems, there is a growing need for the protection of intellectual property as well as security of supply chain information. So as new applications connecting the supply chain and supporting product lifecycle management are being considered, security is the top concern.

The second rated issue with just over 50% of all companies citing as a concern is that the cloud delivery model is not able to replicate and support business processes that are specific to the company. As companies seek to differentiate themselves, their applications become increasingly personalized, and the question I often find myself discussing these days is: Can the cloud deliver – and how? This also relates to data integration concerns, where over 40% of respondents expressed their concerns over data integration from applications in the cloud to applications within the four walls.

The third-highest ranked area of concern was the view that moving to a cloud model will not be cost effective in the long term. The shift from a capex to an opex model has long been discussed, and where the shift to an opex model will benefit in the short term by getting new applications deployed and/or scaled quickly, the long-term cost implications are a concern that vendors will need to address if they want companies to embrace this new way of operating.

Cloud does offer a lot of opportunity for manufacturing companies to embrace new applications and scale very quickly; however, vendors must ensure that the needs of security, personalization and ROI are addressed before cloud becomes widely adopted in the manufacturing segment.