Information system strategies in the UK Insurance Industry

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Abstract

The insurance market is undergoing dynamic change requiring major decisions of insurance companies if they are to maintain their present positions. Information technology (IT) and information systems have a central role in the insurance business and insurance companies recognize that they need IT to keep the business running and are aiming to use IT to develop new markets and to maintain competitiveness. This study assesses the present state of the development and implementation of IT strategies and their relation to business strategies. The study concludes that IT strategies support the business reasonably well and that, in most companies, IT strategy is closely aligned with strategic aims even though it may not be a documented part of the business strategy.

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Stuart Codington is Senior Lecturer in the School of Technology and Information Studies at Thames Valley University, where his main interests are in information systems strategies, managing systems projects, and networking. Previously, he worked for one of the leading computer manufacturers in various management roles.

Professor Tom Wilson is Head of the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield. His research interests are in the areas of user requirements studies, the impact of information technology on organizations, the economics of information, and information policy at organizational and national level.

We would like to express our thanks to The Andersen Foundation for its grant to the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, which enabled this work to be undertaken. We should also like to acknowledge the help received from Douglas Shillito of Shillito Market Intelligence Limited, Jeff Watkins of the University of Bristol, Dr Andrew Sturdy of the Bristol Business School and Robert Cunnew and his staff of the Chartered Insurance Institute Library.

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