Money Can't Buy Me...

Off and on over the past 15 years or so, I have had the opportunity to talk with people from numerous other insurance companies who were either evaluating software vendors, or who had who had forked over gobs of money to a vendor and were in the process of trying to make that software work in their organizations. One common theme has been evident: most large insurance companies have been willing to spend very big bucks to buy a modern, flexible, fully integrated computer system that is capable of replacing what they currently have.

So far as I can tell, none have been successful. This reinforces the old adage: Money can't by Love, Happiness, or Enterprise Computer Architecture.

Sean McGrath and John Gotze pointed this out, along with some of the reasons, a little over a year ago. Unfortunately, most people are more ready to listen to someone who tells them what they want to hear, and less ready to listen to someone who tells them that they need to make a significant paradigm shift. This is true of doctors, lawyers, indian chiefs, cab drivers, donut makers, and yes...even insurance executives.

You can buy a great deal of good, useful, reliable software to accomplish many of the tasks that your business needs to do. But, if you are a sizeable insurance company, you just can't buy the part that puts them all together, makes everything work in harmony, and is flexible enough to serve your business needs. You just have to take the bull by the horns, and put that together yourself.