When Northwestern Mutual Insurance made the decision to ally its corporate planning group with its information systems department back in March 2000, the life insurance and financial services company turned to Deborah Beck and promoted her to the position of executive vice president. The goal was to make sure we were doing as much as we could to align our strategy with our technology, says Beck. She joined Milwaukee-based Northwestern in 1975 as an attorney and has held a number of positions on the business side, but none on the technology side. Northwestern reported $9.8 billion in premium revenue in 2001 with $690 billion worth of life insurance in force.

Among the new initiatives this quiet company is implementing to turn up the volume are Web sites for its field force of 7,800 representatives and agencies that are linked to the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network site. These sites allow clients to interact directly with their representative and learn more about financial issues. In addition, the insurer is leveraging a Siebel system so that agents will have customizable client databases at their fingertips, with the same information being shared with the home office, client service center, etc.

Beck feels it is important business-people know the technology they are using, and technology people should be aware of what makes an insurance carrier operate. Here, she shares insights on strategically partnering business and technology, and more.