"Simply Unum is a tightly integrated technical operating platform that leverages many of our core enterprise business capabilities," she contends.

Launched internally in June 2005, Simply Unum is part of a companywide strategy to roll out products and services to grow the business, lower operating expenses, and improve customer retention. "One of the key values that has come out of this project is collaboration," Owen says. "We now have the benefit of many more people who understand the business from a broad perspective and are able to weigh decisions and their impact across the organization."

"From an IT perspective, it's wonderful to have this kind of long-term strategy and willingness to make such a major investment for our future," she adds.

With an IT budget of approximately $150 million, Unum's U.S. IT department employs about 800 people who support the company's applications and infrastructure. An additional 150 offshore contractors work on application development or maintenance.

Based on a service-oriented architecture, Simply Unum uses a series of service interface packages with multiple operations to align processes with different business domains. The IT team has developed approximately 300 discrete business operations across 25 different interface packages.

"I've learned that transformation has many layers," Owen says. "In order to do things faster, you really have to modify the processes you use to get things done. Within IT, we've had to reassess how we go about doing things."

Simply Unum currently is in the testing phase. Owen expects to roll out the first set of deliverables for front-end processes this summer. A second set of deliverables is expected to follow 8 to 10 weeks later.

"This is a key part of where we're going, and it will materialize in multiple phases over the next several years," she says.

Owen, who has spent her entire career at Unum, initially had no plans to work in IT or the insurance industry. After graduating from Tennessee Technological University with a degree in biology, she worked briefly as a control biologist for a pharmaceutical company. She learned about UnumProvident while looking for a summer job and joined the company's IT department as a programmer trainee in 1975.

"I came into IT with little knowledge of either IT or the insurance industry," Owen admits. "Technology was changing at a rapid pace in the mid-'70s, and it was beginning to transform the way business was being conducted internally."

During the next 30 years, Owen moved up the ranks within the IT department, serving as manager of system development and vice president of individual systems. She was promoted to senior vice president of IT business applications in May 2003.

"Working in IT really allows you to understand the business you work for on a detail level," she asserts. "It makes you feel like you have a direct impact on the success of the company."

Once Simply Unum is well under way, Owen plans to direct her attention to other strategic projects and additional capabilities to help the company succeed. These include providing enhanced services for brokers, new products and product partnerships, and market extension. "There's a lot more to come," she promises.