The New York Times is reporting that Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM, is speaking today at the Council on Foreign Relations on the answer his company is proposing for the struggling economy: more efficient systems for utility grids, traffic management, food distribution, water conservation and health care (click herefor the article). In other words, IBM is saying, “Let’s take this crumbling infrastructure we’ve got and bring it up to speed with what technology now allows!” After having a Minneapolis interstate highway bridge fall into the Mississippi River recently (not to mention the daily cracks in infrastructure we all endure), ya gotta figure this is an idea that will have some appeal with the general population.
As the Times says, “Sixty-seven percent of electrical energy, for example, is lost because of inefficient power generation and grid management,” and ”Congested highways cost $78 billion a year in squandered working hours and gas burned.” The article goes on to point out that this is not just a case of IBM pushing its own interests: “Some economists and policy experts say similar projects are a good way to improve the long-term health of the economy, potentially providing a foundation for innovation and growth across a range of industries.”
Now let’s consider all that’s been said so far here as a metaphor for the insurance industry. Do we have aging technology and operational infrastructure? Have we been patching a quilt-work of systems? Would focusing in this broad way allow us to “improve the long-term health of [our industry], potentially providing a foundation for innovation and growth across [our industry?]“
Maybe we’d have more innovation in our industry if we have an overriding notion that our industry’s infrastructure, like our country’s infrastructure, needed a major overhaul – not just a nip and tuck here and there.
Tags: Innovation, IBM, Palmisano, Council on Foreign Relations, CFR, infrastructure
