At one time, insurance companies were users of bleeding edge computer technology. Shortly after the U.S. Army began to use the first mainframes to compute shell trajectories for heavy artillery (before anybody knew what a mainframe was), insurers began using those room-sized behemoths to calculate mortality rates and actuarial tables. Later they were the first to use second-generation mainframes to store customer data. Only the federal government had bigger databases than underwriters and those pioneering insurance companies who needed every bit of binary storage they could lay their hands on.
Banking and insurance provided willing customers for mainframe computer manufacturers in the 1950s. Many of those early mainframes, or at least their direct descendants, are still in existence, and our industry is no longer considered a front-runner when it comes to technology.
What happened? Is the insurance industry truly mired in the technology dark ages or are we simply using the resources we have wisely?
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
