Global insurers to spend about USD 185 billion on technology in 2017

26 April 2017 — Daniela GHETU
Global insurers to spend about USD 185 billion on technology in 2017
Global IT spending by insurance companies will reach USD 184.8 billion by the end of 2017, with digitalization, data analytics, and legacy and ecosystem transformation dominating investments says Celent.

According to the recent "IT Spending in Insurance 2017" report issued by Celent, the overall figure represents a 2% decrease y-o-y. Different geographical markets are at different states of maturity. Developing markets remain aggressive in their focus on new platform acquisition and technology in support of sales distribution. More mature markets are characterized by agendas of digital transformation and modernization.

"In a few markets globally, we have seen a slight reduction in IT spending this year. Generally, the more mature markets remain under pressure to demonstrate value through efficiency," commented Senior Vice President Jamie MacGregor. "Digitisation and, increasingly, analytics are a dominant piece of the technology investment agenda, with a clear focus on the front end of the business in sales and distribution," he added.

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"The difference is the amount of money available to spend on IT varies by region," said Karen MONKS, an analyst in Celent's North American insurance practice, quoted by DigitalInsurance. She added that carriers are actually working to invest more strategically in IT. "Long-term projects taking tens of millions of dollars are not acceptable anymore. It's about turning them around quickly to satisfy today's customers at low costs."

"Insurers want the best risk pools, the cheapest operations in the background, and the best products to market to customers," said MONKS.

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