In light of these trends in the finance and insurance industry, there are a number of critical success factors that insurance executives should be aware of before considering an e-business venture.

Make e-business a corporate-wide priority
The first challenge for an insurer is to get e-business development as an executive leadership- driven effort since its impact will be felt throughout the organization. Most insurers have e- business efforts run by information technology or marketing functions, which result in limited focus, few integrated solutions and insufficient resources committed to pursue the full business opportunities provided by the Internet.

Integrate e-business with vision and strategic goals
Insurance business leaders have varying degrees of understanding about the potential and possibilities of e-business in terms of technology and its application to business processes. In order to succeed, executives need to become more aware and knowledgeable on e-business trends and advancements in Internet technology. Leaders need to look for integrated solutions that use e-business as one component of an overall business strategy and develop e-business approaches that are driven by the company's vision and strategic goals.

Focus e-business on business process redesign
Most insurers are apprehensive about selling via the Internet and the possible impact on their current distribution channels. But e-business promises significant opportunities to strengthen customer and claims service, distribution support, and marketing initiatives. Two of the most immediate opportunities exist in reducing and eliminating administration through customer-do- it-yourself and instant data collection, dissemination and retrieval between agent and insurer. Each business process needs to be fully examined for opportunities to use e-business, including e-commerce, as a process enabler from the perspective of the consumer, policyholder, agent, supplier and company.

Rethink the agents' role in e-business
Personal value-adding services will become increasingly important to today's consumers who are overwhelmed by information and choice. Personal advice will remain an important aspect of the insurance purchasing activity for that group. On the other hand, almost 26% of our population was under 20 in 2000. This group is growing up with technology and will have different expectations and attitudes about e-business, both as consumers and employees. The window of opportunity to gear up to respond to this generation is narrowing fast. Both demographics and e-business will change the role of sales representatives, reducing their involvement in administrative transactions and increasing their involvement in providing advice to consumers who have pre-screened the product, the insurer and themselves. Insurers need to continuously predict and evolve the role of their sales representatives to enable them to compete successfully in an e-business-driven world.

E-business success means having the will and expertise
Today, it's necessity for insurers to pursue e-business opportunities to keep up with the competition. Those insurers who continue to "wait and see" will rapidly find their ability to compete diminished. Having the will to integrate e-business into the day-to-day functions of the company is a minimum requirement. But it takes more than that. Without the talent, the vision does not get implemented. And finding and keeping the key resources to pursue e- business is increasingly difficult. There is a limited supply of high-quality talent in the e- business arena and this talent is being offered attractive entrepreneurial opportunities, with significant upsides, by both established and new dot-com companies.

The Internet changes everything
The Internet has the power to change everything—the way insurance will be purchased, the role of agents, how business processes will be conducted and claims service delivered. It will also change our professional and personal lives in ways we are only beginning to understand. What the future holds is for forecasters to predict. But today, it's a fact the insurance industry is clearly lagging behind other financial service players and emerging e-business start-ups. For many leading insurers, the traditional quick-follow strategy will no longer work for dealing with the Internet market and doing business on Internet time. It is time to join the insurance e- revolution!