Rather than just quickly sampling, say, 20 policy administration vendors on a noisy trade-show floor, do some homework ahead of time and figure out perhaps five or six you'd really like to see in more detail and that will be at the show. Communicate with them ahead of time to schedule a demo in a demo room, a hospitality suite, or wherever.

You'll get a much better look at the system, and have a much better conversation about how their system might be able to meet your specific needs rather than a general sales pitch. You might not come home with quite as many flashlights or stuffed animals, but you may come home with better information.

Mike Fitzgerald, senior analyst, Celent

In vendor selection, there are typically very sophisticated approaches used for proof of concepts, request for proposals, business cases, etc. However, one area that is typically “underdeveloped” involves customer references. In many respects, this can be the most critical of all of the areas. However, we have seen cases where it is not approached early enough or performed to a sufficient level of depth and breadth. Some practical steps:

Start early: During the project initiation phase, the project team should spend time developing specific actions to identify and access references.

Cast a wide net: Engage as many company employees as possible in the search. In one vendor selection, a reference that ended up being critical in the decision was uncovered only through an employee's network.

Validate your list of vendor/insurer combinations with vendors under consideration: This signals to the vendor that you will discover their strengths and weaknesses through methods other than their reference list and encourages them to address any issues early in the selection process.

Bill Jenkins, consultant, Agile Insurance Analytics

Arrival at a conference exhibit hall possessing a large number of vendor/solution offerings can be a daunting, complicated, and confusing sight if one does not possess a plan as to what one wants to achieve. In effect, know what a vendor/solution provider does and seek out information. In this vein, the following steps are suggested in putting together the “exhibit hall plan.”

1. Determine your organization's current and near-term system/service needs. In addition, list the requirements your organization expects the product and/or service to provide. This exercise can be done several weeks in advance of the conference.
2. Research what vendors/solution providers offer the products/services your organization needs against the listing developed in the first step above. Based on this research, compile a list of these vendors/solution providers and do a preliminary ranking of the vendors/solution providers. This initial research can include: discussions with research groups, review of research reports, visitation to vendor/solution provider websites, discussions with your peer group in other companies as to their experiences, etc. Using vendor/solution provider indexes and overviews published in magazines like Tech Decisions is a good way to start to identify which vendors/solution providers offer the products and services you are seeking.
3. Arriving at the conference or even before the conference starts, contact the vendor/solution provider and arrange an appointment to get the necessary time with them during the conference. This can be an important step given the number of attendees and the amount of interest a certain vendor/solution provider may be getting at the conference, otherwise, you may not get the amount of time you may want with a particular vendor/solution provider. This will also allow you the opportunity to manage your time more efficiently.

If you can, use the time in the exhibit hall to gain education and knowledge on new offerings and identification of other vendors/solution providers you were either unable to visit or you were unaware of. Finally, use the time to network, exchange information, and meet new contacts.

Karen Furtado, partner, Strategy Meets Action

The IASA show offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for insurers—many vendors, solutions, and approaches—and lots of ideas, all in one convenient location. SMA recommends starting your search for potential partners with an inward look at your strategic needs.

Understand how your company's culture and appetite for change influence solution decisions. Is it OK to remain status quo? Just need to improve effectiveness? Or, do you want to excel and set the pace?

Think about how a new system could assist in improving your market position. Is your company satisfied with waiting and watching? Do you want to keep pace with the pack or would you rather be a step ahead? Is being a market leader important?

Determine what you expect from a new system. Would it replace the existing system and add a few new features, or does your company want to completely modernize capabilities? Or even innovate?

Review the conference materials ahead of time, and map out a plan to meet with specific vendors to investigate the possibilities. Discussions always provide new ideas and learning points. Enjoy IASA.

Karen Pauli, research director, insurance, CEB TowerGroup

Before buying any technology and establishing a partnership with a vendor, insurers should research who the vendor is partnering with. Insurers need to understand what resources a technology partner brings to the engagement.

Insurers do not have time to seek out related vendors and technology—partnerships are critical. Additionally, partners will have worked out technology kinks and the risk of failure or sub-optimal outcomes are minimized.

Another important partnership driver is that IT executives are struggling to find technology skills and to the degree that a vendor has alliances for specific and unique skills, an insurer is ahead of the game.

A critical area to understand is what emerging technology vendors the primary provider is aligned with. This will help an insurer map out a robust execution map, particularly around things such as analytics, mobile, social media, and big data. Partnership alliances are all about getting greater business capabilities with reduced risk.

Jeffrey Scott Haner, principal research analyst, insurance, Gartner

Insurers need to focus on the role that core systems will play in their future as they look to transform the customer experience through emerging technologies such as next-generation portals and telematics. Core systems are an essential foundation, but they are becoming a means to an end.

When assessing vendors, focus on whether their offerings can be deployed quickly and whether they can serve as the central hub for increasingly intelligent operations. Can the vendor point to prebuilt content and past success in your lines of business? Have they demonstrated scalability in production? Have they positioned their offering (through add-on components or prebuilt integrations) to support emerging technologies?

Core system functionality is becoming a commodity, but the combination of past success and a firm grasp of future trends is rare. As insurers evaluate their core system options, they would do well to seek out vendors that exhibit these characteristics.