There may have been a point in time when insurance executives hummed the old Lovin Spoonful tune Do You Believe in Magic? when the CIO walked into the room. Those who believe in the magic of IT have had to change their tune. As Yom Senegor, senior vice president, CIO, and chief strategy officer at Safeco, has said: Technology is not that magical. Its hard work.

Senegor was one of three insurance IT leaders featured on a panel during the opening general session of the Tech Decisions Exposition and Conference (TechDEC) held recently in Seattle, Wash. Joining Senegor were Vittorio Severino, senior vice president and CIO of Hartford Life, and Glenn Headley, CIO of the Republic group of insurance companies. Along with moderator William Jenkins, managing partner of SolvIT Consulting Group, they discussed how technology initiatives increasingly are being linked to the business side of the insurance industry. IT leaders are debating whether to push for leadership of these initiatives or share the responsibility with business leaders.

The role of IT has changed, said Severino. IT departments at one time were innovators for insurance carriers, but the job increasingly has taken on the function of cost saver. Senegor added it is important for the CIO to sit at the table with other top business executives.