Results from a new survey have revealed that insurance CFOs are mainly concerned about legacy systems and staff skills when it comes to capitalizing on the tech revolution.
The EY 2016 Global Insurance CFO Survey revealed that the officers surveyed believe that their companies have to overcome the complexity of legacy IT systems (52%), their staff’s capacity to adapt (45%), and the significant investments involved (35%) to maximize the potential of information technology in their organizations.
“CFOs are keen to understand the opportunities these technologies can provide and many are piloting projects to build the business case for their use,” EY said in its report.
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“To make the most of new technologies, finance leaders must focus on business needs first. Being clear on the outputs - from key performance indicators to wider management information and analysis… is critical for designing the right solutions, rather than investing in technology for its own sake.”
Similarly, the report noted that these officers are concerned with beefing up their talent pool to face future challenges, especially as the insurance business model evolves.
“Building analytical skills is the top people development priority identified by CFOs. Technological innovation will transform finance, creating opportunities for efficiency, enabling deeper insights and even replacing people by automating…manual…tasks,” the report further observed.
CFOs are focused on developing competency based training and enhancing diversity in their work force, as well as improving analytical skills and engendering interdisciplinary training across accounting, actuarial, risk, business, and communication skills.
“A general shift from activities related to preparing data to analyzing data can be seen in…employees through 2020,” the report further noted.
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