A Guru Rates The Years Best And Worst Tech Developments

If you were to make the perhaps arduous pilgrimage to my secluded guru den high above the teeming metropolis of Hoboken, N.J., you would doubtless have many important technology questions to address to my humble self.

Yet few of you have achieved a sufficient level of technospiritual evolution (TSE) to reach the lofty place where you may receive such enlightenment. This thought saddens me (and probably you, too). But take heart, for I have decided to make available to the technology-starved masses some of my most brilliant insightsspecifically on the technology events and developments of 2003.

Heres how it will work. Ill mention a technology-related trend or happening from 2003, then I will rate that concept on its level of TSE, just the way those TV and newspaper guys rate movies, but, of course, I will not use mere stars. Instead, I will assign from 1 to 5 “at” signs (@) for each instance. Each @ I assign represents yet another step toward the virtual nirvana that exists at the highest levels of TSE.

A rating of 1 @ will indicate the very lowest level of TSE, perhaps that of a dog (and not a smart dog like a border collie but rather something like the lugubrious, slobbering creature that would inhabit the front porch of Jed Clampetts Ozark mountain shack).

At the other end of the scale, a rating of 5 @s would denote the very zenith of TSE, equivalent to that of, say, Bill Gates or a typical 15-year-old.

With that understood, let us proceed.

2003 Insurance Technology Product Introductions: @@@@

For the sheer number of product introductions this year, technology vendors in insurance and financial services must be commended. Between the ACORD and IASA trade shows alone, your humble guru counted an incredible 40 new products (mostly software) being announced. No, every product wasnt a world beater, but it was heartening to see that most of them focused on boosting productivity for carriers and/or agents and brokers. That was a sound message and a wise strategy, given a national economy that has been down for some years and is just beginning to recover.

The spate of new products introduced this year also speaks to the technology sectors faith in the insurance and financial services markets. Your guru applauds the enterprising spirit of these vendors and assigns them an appropriately lofty TSE rating.

Demand for Return-on-Investment (ROI) for Technology Products: @@

Now dont get me wrong on this one; theres absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a reasonable return on investment in any product, including technology. The problem is that some buyers have focused so narrowly on this demand that they have excluded purchases that may not return dollars immediately, ignoring the fact that software and systems must be updated to keep an enterprise abreast of the industrys technology pace.

As a result, updates to a companys technology infrastructure, while sorely needed, may not get past the purchasing managers axe, because they dont guarantee ROI within the next year. Yes, the company may get by on legacy systems and applications for another year or 2 (its probably already been 20 years), but the longer one waits to update, the more expensive and more difficult that task becomes.

ROI is not the only reason to buy technology; it may not even be the most important reason.