Noodlin’ About Writing a Book About Insurance Industry & Technology

I’ve been thinking about writing a book about the insurance industry and technology for quite a few years. Now that I’m retired, this is my last shot to actually do it.

I see the posts that I’ve already published on this WordPress Blog so far – and others I still plan to write – as fodder for parts of chapters in the book. Obviously, I would have to do significantly more work and cover more topics.

I have a working title but that will be kept under wraps for now. For me, that title will drive my thinking, research, and writing.

Discussing technology will be an integral part of my book

I will write about technology, of course. My discussion of technology is an integral part of the book. Or more specifically, several past, existing, and emerging technologies. The insurance industry can’t exist or succeed without the use of technology.

However, technology is only one enabler for the industry.

Technology, regardless of how old, new, or emerging does not transform the insurance industry into the technology industry. Black-and-white fact even if that (legal) reality does not generate any revenue at all or more revenue for any company in the IT or Telecommunications industries.

Technology does not transform an insurance company or an insurance agency / broker firm / MGA into a technology firm. Technology does not transform any third-parties such as claim adjudicators, auto body shops, medical providers / rehabilitation or remediation firms into technology firms.

Technology might very well make some of the insurance business processes extinct while (hopefully) making other insurance business processes (or parts of processes) more effective and/or more efficient.

There are times that the adoption of some technology or enterprise system, actually doesn’t work or makes the existing insurance business process(es) worse for the insurance professionals who have to use it. (Shocking, I realize.) Sometimes what managers thought was a ‘magic bullet’ is in reality a bullet: a bullet that wreaks havoc by ricocheting throughout the processes that used to, well for want of a better term, actually work. [Hmmm, maybe I should use that phrase in the book.]

I come from the business side of the insurance industry

I come from the business side of insurance – marketing and marketing research – and that will be the foundation of my book. My focus would be markets (ecosystems, commerce platforms), customers and channels.

I don’t plan on it being an advertising channel for any technology or technology firm. But I do want insurance firms, and stakeholders throughout the insurance value chain (and ecosystems and platforms), to know about some of the key technologies that I believe can be used to help improve insurers’ customers and producers interactions with insurers.

My objective for writing the book

What would be my objective of writing the book? Not to put too fine a point on it: to satisfy my desire to write it. Hopefully others would find it useful.

I plan to self-publish it so I can keep to my own schedule.

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What do you think?