Insurance firms told to wise up to the Web

IT directors in the UK's insurance sector have been warned to seize the opportunities of the Internet or risk their companies risk being squeezed out altogether.

The Internet was the key theme running through the Insurance and Finance sector technology conference in Birmingham this week. Roy Smith, managing director at financial ecommerce specialist, Brokat, warned: "If you don't [make the most of the Web] someone else will on your behalf."

Smith added: "The UK insurance industry treats the Internet as a threat rather than an opportunity. But electronic services are a cheap way of delivering services, and helps you construct new services."

A number of speakers agreed that the advent of digital TV and the availability of Internet services on GSM mobile phones mean that customers will be demanding more interactive Web sites.

However, they were told that if their site is to go beyond 'brochure-ware' it needs to be integrated into existing business processes and legacy systems.

Anthony Chrumka, associate director at CMG consultancy, said front office processing will be essential to making customer services run smoothly.

According to Chrumka, the key IT trends are migration to real-time processing, component based development, better networking, better call centres and more fully integrated computing and communications systems.

Patricia Saporito, vice president and director of insurance information strategies at The Meta Group in the US, said: "Even in the US, the legacy systems aren't hooked up so the customer would not be able to access all the policies held within a company." However, she added: "The UK is ahead of the US in terms of call centres."