The relentless march of modernity

It cannot be denied , however, that having won their freedom companies must now take on tasks that can no longer be put off; they have to seek to modernize themselves, creat ing products increasingly adapted to the needs ofcommon citizens and reducing their costs so as to be able to offei more attractive prices to consumers. Lookmg once again at the fine examples coimng to us from abroad, we have to use aU the creativity we can muster to use to the chaUenge. Japanese insurers who are responsible for infor the lafgesTinsurance'market on Eatlh. with otal premiums reaching 10 apan's GDP,can inspire us to devetop specific products for each situation that

0% of Japan s specific j ^ the market can potentially otfei eZu so -and here Ues the impor tance of SIAS II — modern executive r^anagement is virtuaUy synonymous today with automation Multiplying the

In 1990, our greatest challenge was to consolidate the partnership with the suppliers of information processing products and services. This objective was satisfactorily attained. Today we have development of specific solutions for insurer activities and jomt programs adequate to the needs of the various lines of insurance. In turn, the in surance market has also taken a decisive step by changing its behavior in relation to automation, realizing that investments in this area are of vital unportance for the sector's growth and survival.

Forty percent of the insurance com panies operating in Brazil devote an average of2.5% oftheir billings to infor mation processmg products and ser vices. which amounts to about US$ 70 million per year. This is a lot of money, and it mobilizes suppliers to seek in creasingly specialized solutions for the sector. The 1990's promise to be known as the decade of insurance automation in Brazil, as the 1980's were for banks. Yet, to a certain extent, we can consider ourselves privileged, in that our defmitive entrance into the world of bits and bytes fortunately coincides with the end of the information processing market reseive, which opens up a whole world of possibilities for strengthening partnerships and having access to the latest technology.

Our challenge now has another qua lity to it. The sector needs to make centers of learning more sensitive to its requiiements. It needs to train infor mation processing professionals orien ted towards the msurance market, a present-day shortage that becomes greater in direct proportioir to the growth in automation uivestments by insurance companies.

The meeting at SIAS II ofthe cream of the crop of insurance market and infor mation processing specialists is the fruit of the thrust to sector automation that SLAS I provided. Now we are put ting the relentless march of modernity on the right path.