Abstract:

Financial Services Companies (FSC’s) are facing a decade in which change will be standard and business as usual the exception. To cope with that situation FSC’s must explore marketing and information technology in an explicitly different manner than today. Marketing and information technology should become comer stones of the FSC’s management and operations. Only then will FSC’s effectively face the threats and explore the opportunities of the nineties. The main argument given above will be illustrated by a case from the insurance industry. In a brief analysis the current status of the insurance industry is set forth. The potential of marketing and information technology is demonstrated by means of nine concepts that address management and organization, underwriting and claims handling, marketing and account management and last but not least planning and control. All nine concepts together build the Marketing & Information Technology based Insurance Company (mit-based-ic), a strategic business framework for insurance companies. The case will be completed by an overview of conditions necessary for an effective implementation of the concepts. The emphasis of the case will be put on the MIT-based-IC concepts and their implementation. Experiences with the use of the mit-based-ic as a reference model for strategic and marketing decisions and as a basis for business development are presented. Particular attention will be paid to financial services, seen from an insurance point of view. Several scenarios will be highlighted: - Cooperation and strategic alliances with banks. - Active non cooperative strategies such as return competition from outside the insurance industry by means of diversification. - Defensive non cooperative strategies such as strengthening the existing distribution channels. In all scenarios strategic direction in decision making and flexibility in implementation are an essential prerequisite for success. Indicated will be how a scenario could be selected whereafter the MIT-based-ic framework will be used to illustrate the ways and means by which the scenario can become successful.