Insurers keen to digitize front-end IT

MUMBAI, INDIA: Indian insurance companies will spend 107 billion rupees on IT products and services in 2013, a 16 per cent increase from 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. Insurance spending on IT will increase more than nine per cent in 2014 to reach 117 billion rupees. This forecast includes spending by insurers on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

IT services will not only be the biggest spending segment for the insurance industry in 2014, but it will also be the fastest growing at 16.2 per cent in 2014. This growth rate is continuing to be driven by strong uptake of business process outsourcing (BPO) at 24.1 per cent and consulting at 20.1 per cent. Growth is also strong for enterprise software at 20 per cent, especially customer relationship management (CRM).

"Insurers in India are also looking to digitalize their processes - especially at the front end," said Derry Finkeldey, principal analyst at Gartner. "Demand for consulting services around all aspects of the customer relationship and delivery of service (such as through mobility) is strong."