NU Online News Service, March 9, 1:59 p.m.EST

Executives are operating in a new market environment, and theirstrategy for the future is to concentrate on growth and experimentwith the possibilities of technology, according to a survey ofchief information officers.

Celent released its 8^th annual U.S. Insurance CIOSurvey that received responses from 32 executives, primarily fromthe property and casualty side of the insurance world.

Speaking to the results during a webinar, Donald Light, aconsultant with Celent and author of the report, made the analogythat the insurance industry was like his trip into New York—stuckin traffic and not going anywhere because of a huge pothole hecalled the recession.

This year the attitude is different, and so was his trip intoNew York, he said, where traffic was slow but moving.

“[The industry] is cruising along and making some progress,” headded.

Among CIOs, there is the feeling of economic recovery and thestart of some climbing back. With that, CIOs saw a modest increasein spending in their area.

Many executives believe that there is a “new normal” brought onby the recession, Mr. Light said. That new normal is a challengingand uncertain economic environment, and to meet the challenge,executives are looking to grow their business either throughacquisition or moving into new markets.

On the technology end of the business, the survey finds that.NET and Windows are continuing to gain shares as preferredtechnology platforms.

The report's other findings:

• SOA (service-oriented architecture)/web services have emergedfrom the research and development stage to become an integratedstandard.
• Insurers are using ITO (information technology outsourcing) andBPO (business process outsourcing) for limited, targeted functions,such as development, maintenance and infrastructure.
• For core systems, CIOs prefer best-of-breed from vendors and/orinternal development.
• Operational SaaS (software as a service) and limited socialnetworking are the big emerging technologies stories.

While the survey cannot be considered a statistically completeoverview of the insurance industry, Mr. Light said, it doescorrelate with what the consulting firm is hearing from its clientsand generally about the industry.