Asking IT to build a business case for investment is like asking a mechanic to build a business case to fix your car. Do you need your car fixed or not?

1. Building a Business Case
for IT Investment in Insurance
QUICK QUOTE

2. In many insurers, the IT group
has the responsibility for
developing a formal and detailed
business case for IT initiatives.

3. Why?

4. Would you ask a mechanic to
develop a business case to fix
your car?

5. Or would you decide you need
better capabilities than you
currently have…

6. …and then ask a professional
how best to deliver those
capabilities?

7. Any IT investment that is not
relieving pain, mitigating risk,
or meeting a need for capabilities
isn’t going to have business
support…

8. …no matter how good
the business case looks on paper.

9. Sometimes IT is aware of
potential pain and risk
before business is.

10. But if IT has to build elaborate
models to communicate that
pain or risk, is the business
really feeling it?

11. And when it comes to
capabilities, IT may be aware
of the potential value
of a new capability,
but until business says:

12. “I want to be able to do
something different, but I don’t
have the right tools!”

13. it’s not an IT problem.

14. If the business doesn’t feel the
need, it won’t take advantage of
the new capabilities anyway.

15. An IT initiative is like a rope.
It works a lot better when business
is pulling than when IT is pushing.

16. www.novarica.com

17. To learn more about best practices in Business/IT Alignment for
Insurers and how Novarica’s retained advisory services can help,
see http://www.novarica.com/retained-service/