No business wants to look foolish in the eyes of its customers, yet for some companies it happens every day. Customers receive multiple copies of an insurers privacy statement or marketing material touting a new annuity product. Instead of feeling secure because they know their private information is safe, or excited about a new investment opportunity, customers are left laughing and shaking their heads. Claudia Imhoff, president of Intelligent Solutions, speaks with insurers all the time about this problem and sometimes feels more like a counselor than a consultant. Its kind of like being in an AA program, she says. You first have to recognize you have a problem.

Large corporations constantly are dealing with the age-old problem of internal communication. Insurers have silos of processes and silos of workflow and dont realize the data they create in these processes and workflows actually is used in other processes and workflows, says Imhoff. Not in the way they assume it will be used.

James Fridenberg, vice president applications development with Farmers Insurance Group, says there is one thing insurers need to remember: The data has to come first. When that happens, many problems are solved, and even more important, many opportunities are opened for carriers.