Busting Myths on the Cloud (Part 2)

Many insurance companies are not moving to cloud computing because they believe they can’t recover their sunk costs in IT infrastructure. This is not correct. Insurers can achieve big total cost of ownership (TCO) savings by migrating to the cloud.

Cloud computing offers insurers substantial benefits as they endeavor to adapt to changing market conditions and introduce new digital products and services. Many insurers, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, are not capitalizing on these benefits because of some serious misconceptions about the cloud. One of the most persistent and widespread of these fallacies is the belief that sunk costs are not recoverable. According to our research, 35% of insurers are holding back from embracing the cloud because they believe it offers unfavorable total cost of ownership (TCO). Such views are way off the mark. Take a look at Suncorp. This Australian banking and insurance group reduced its data center space by more than 75%, and also curbed its utility costs, by moving to the cloud. Several mergers and acquisitions had left Suncorp with a highly complex IT environment with considerable redundancy. It was operating more than 2,000 applications across many different technology silos. Furthermore, the company needed to support multiple major business brands. Instead of continuing to maintain and enhance its complicated and expensive IT infrastructure, Suncorp opted to move to the cloud. It first migrated its storage facilities and then transferred its other workloads and applications. The shift to the cloud has been a big success. See also: Lost In The Cloud: Five Strategies For Risk Managers Facing The Challenges Of Cloud Computing   Other insurers should take a fresh look at the substantial benefits that cloud computing offers. We’ve found that 60% of insurance companies replace their legacy infrastructure every three to six years. Most of these insurers, therefore, can optimize and align their IT replacement cycles with a migration to the cloud. This would allow them to avoid unnecessary capital expenditure, minimize write-offs and sunset their depreciation schedules. These benefits add up to considerable cost savings. What’s more, insurers can also capitalize on the data center space they’re no longer using by subletting to an IT services provider or cloud operator. This would generate additional revenue and improve their asset utilization and energy efficiency. In my next blog post, I’ll discuss why the cloud is essential for digital transformation in the insurance industry.  Until then, have a look at this link. I’m sure you’ll find it helpful. Eighty percent reduction in insurance carrier costs? Cloud as rainmaker.