Cruising the information highway.

Technology advancements were heralded by the insurance industry for potential money and time-saving features before inertia slowed the evolution. Tim Ablett says changing attitudes could at last mean the process will move forward again.

Insurers were at the forefront of technological development 30 years
ago, investing significant sums of money in large, mainly IBM,
mainframes.


These monster 'number crunchers' were seen as appropriate for the
insurance industry, which dealt with very large volumes of data and in
which row upon row of staff processed premiums, claims and financial
statements.


It was not uncommon for such firms to employ large numbers of Comptometer
operators who did nothing but add up column upon column of numbers

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Polaris at 30 – Jackie Childs

In the concluding instalment of Polaris at 30, senior business analyst at the insurance industry-owned organisation Jackie Childs rounds up the progress on digital trading moving from monthly personal lines updates sent out on floppy discs to the new era of risk and rating dexterity that can only be supported electronically.

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Polaris at 30 – Stuart Reid

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Polaris at 30 – Ray Vincent

As insurance industry owned Polaris celebrates its 30th birthday, Insurance Age asks experts for their recollections on the dawn of digital trading and what is coming next.

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