The rapid evolution of technology is pressuring insurers to consider new forms of data storage.
Many businesses, including those within the insurance industry, are now finding themselves in a position in which they are being required to make important decisions regarding their current data storage processes, and those that would allow them to remain compliant, requiring them to use the cloud.
This is proving to be a challenging and potentially costly switch, and many companies have been resisting.
The insurance industry is well aware of the potential benefits of moving data storage to the cloud, but at the moment there aren’t many insurers who have already paved the way. This uncharted territory adds considerable risk to the early adopters, and it appears as though most insurance companies are avoiding that risk by holding off and waiting for someone else to be the guinea pig.
There aren’t enough people in the insurance industry who actually understand cloud procedures and processes.
These companies are waiting to use cloud data storage because they first require outlines with regards to the ways in which they can handle the implications. At the moment, while this seems like an important direction, it is currently too vague of a concept to pursue.
The problem with this outdated insurance technology is that cloud providers such as Oracle, Microsoft, and VMWare, will not simply hold back their own progress so that insurers will have enough time to be able to make up their minds and then slowly catch up using a gradual learning curve. Therefore, there is a chance that by the time insurers do take action and head forward with cloud data storage, they may find that their hardware systems are obsolete and will greatly restrict their options.
It appears to be clear to many throughout the insurance industry – both domestic and international – that cloud is the future. Insurers are already discussing the importance of this technology. However, as it is a process that is easier to adopt in a non-regulated industry (and insurance is highly regulated), there will certainly be a large number of hurdles in the way. It looks as though companies will end up paying either by having to pave the way into this technology, themselves, or by facing the expenses later on when regulators start to make requirements about this storage method.
