I learned about the importance of balance the hard way when I was fairly young and the training wheels were taken off my bicycle. I was doing OK until I turned a corner, lost my balance, somersaulted, bike and all, into the street, and ended up with a pain-fully scraped-up face. Its a lesson that lingered: When you lose your balance, bad things happen.

Its a lesson with wide application, too. Munich-based Allianz also is trying to regain equilibrium. In December it was reported the insurers chief executive, Henning Schulte-Noelle, announced hed be exiting in April. Apparently after purchasing Dresdner Bank in 2001, a move seemingly meant to capitalize on cross-selling banking and insurance customers, the groups fortunes spiraled downward. And the less-than-stellar result of the Allianz venture isnt alone. Case in point: Citigroup and Travelers P&C.

Its highly unlikely technology could be considered a culprit in these cases. But since growth strategies do shake up the status quowhether pursuing mergers and acquisitions to annex other branches of financial services or implementing plans for globalization (and often one of these can drive the other)its a necessity to figure out in advance how all the pieces fit and what tools are required to keep everything upright and moving forward (see IT = International Technology, p. 10, for how insurers are accomplishing this).