The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry has always struggled with the acquisition of accurate data to properly underwrite policy submissions and settle claims. Inadequacies in this area lead to inaccurate pricing, poor decisions, and protracted service times. This TowerGroup Research Note will provide insurers with a taxonomy of third party information resources and a map of how to extract the most business value from an explosion of information elements.

The property and casualty insurance industry has historically adopted technology in siloes. Personal lines of business were first followed by claims. However, commercial lines of business have resisted automation. A complex set of market conditions is now making this an impossible stance to maintain. This TowerGroup Research Note covers the market conditions making commercial lines automation a high priority. Additionally, it identifies the technology insurers need to adopt to address the pressing business problems weighing heavily on bottom-line financial results.

Globally, the financial services industry will increase spending on outsourcing services and technology at a rate more than twice that of overall IT spending through 2015. Driving the growth are the need to update technology despite tight budgets and deferred investment and vendors' pricing and delivery innovations and expanded domain expertise. This Research Note forecasts spending on outsourcing by the industry through 2015 and examines the forces of change. The report discusses how outsourcing vendors should respond to these forces and how financial services institutions can benefit from competition among vendors to meet rapidly changing business and marketplace expectations.

Cloud computing is here to stay and rapidly making inroads in the financial services industry, mostly by nibbling at the edges of business operations. The private cloud has become a commonsense option for financial services institutions for leveraging assets, gaining better business control, and diversifying the supply chain for distinctive offerings. Vendors across the IT and service spectrum are adding on-demand services, furthering growth of the phenomenon. Even vendors of installed software are adopting "pay-per-use" options. This Research Note outlines the drivers and projected growth of spending on cloud computing by the global financial services industry through 2015.

Operational risk management remains a mystery to most financial services institutions. Driven by both Basel III and Solvency II, FSIs in the European Union are leading in understanding the nature of, measuring, and managing operational risk. The increase in complexity of business has increased operational risk and exacerbated the governance of risk at the firm level. By focusing on how to identify operational risk and to reduce it, FSIs can minimize the statistical chance that a risk event will occur by leveraging the organizational structure under the right governance and process approach, one that uses IT to provide consistent, transparent, and actionable insight.

There's a battle brewing over the ownership of social network data (SND). The use of that data has been heralded as providing important, dramatic, new insight serving a variety of purposes throughout financial services institutions. But its ownership remains an unsettled question and is under scrutiny by consumer advocates, the global legal community, governments, and regulators alike. FSIs must think and act carefully when using SND, given the potential for consumer backlash against institutions that "know too much" about their customers because they have deep insight into individual customers' personal preferences, life styles, biases, beliefs, and behaviors.

Today, property and casualty carriers' communications with customers are impeded by their having multiple document systems and templates and by their inability to deliver documents via multiple channels. Service levels are diminished, and, in the long term, customer retention rates will be as well. This TowerGroup Research Note discusses the current state of document technology at P&C carriers and important advancements that vendors are making to document technology applications. The Note also provides an overview of the vendors in this space and TowerGroup's views on the future of document technology and its implications for P&C carriers and solution providers.

2011 will be an important year for insurers and distributors positioned for growth. Insurers that can execute strategic initiatives using best practices and new technologies will vault ahead of those that waited for more certainty to develop. Since the road to improved and sustainable financial results is filled with speed bumps and potholes, insurers must be vigilant and innovative. This TowerGroup Research Note reviews the most important business dynamics and IT initiatives in property and casualty (P&C) and life and annuity (L&A) insurance for 2011. The Note discusses trends that are similar across all industry segments, some specific to segments, and some important global issues.

Social media activity has become an integral part of the fabric of daily life for consumers. Yet insurance executives continually ask, "Where is the business value?" While some executives see social media as a panacea, others see it as a threat to be banished from the organization. The most effective strategy lies in the middle, and both carriers and distributors must find a way to be present in the social media. This TowerGroup Research Note explores the current social media landscape and provides guidance on the steps for an insurance carrier or distributor to take to establish a social media strategy that will support corporate strategic direction and successful business outcomes.

Insurance claims organizations are under tremendous pressure to find new ways to contribute to the improvement and stabilization of bottom-line corporate financial results. Expense reduction and customer satisfaction are nearly equal in importance to claims executives, yet they appear to be in conflict in practical terms. Remaining competitive requires a broad framework of technology architected with equal consideration for expense and the customer. This TowerGroup Research Note provides a view of the technology solutions that carriers must adopt to remain competitive.