NOVEMBER 1998 MEETING RECAP

"INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ISSUES"

Reported By: A.E. Myhr, CPCU

The November Speaker was John W. Roblin, Senior V.P. and Information Systems Officer for CIGNA Property & Casualty. Mr. Roblin presented a very informative picture of some of the information technology issues facing the industry today. This included some very humorous anecdotes such as: "Amazon used to be a river." He also noted that in 1977, the Chairman of Intel stated at a business meeting that he could not figure out why anyone would need a personal computer at home - how times change!

With respect to the P&C industry, some of the systems related issues reviewed were those connected with keeping all systems operations in house; the drain of resources caused by Year 2000 related issues; and recurring problems related to the use of legacy type systems.

One of the most important points brought out in Mr. Roblin’s talk was the fast pace of change within the industry, particularly within the systems and information technology arenas. He further pointed out that it is important for companies to recognize this as a constant, which needs to be managed.