Method Support of Large-Scale Transformation in the Insurance Sector: Exploring Foundations

Many enterprises need to handle programs that impose fundamental changes to the organization as well as the supporting IT systems. While general guidance for such transformations in form of methods, reference models, principles, etc. is available, the specific context of the insurance sector is often not considered. We conducted an interview series with informants from major European insurance companies to explore the specifics of enterprise transformation in the insurance sector. The results suggest amending existing transformation support methods by regarding transformation triggers, transformation program types and core techniques. E.g., transformations that deal with standardization, mergers and acquisitions and internal alignment are not sufficiently covered yet and techniques that deal with soft and social aspects of transformations are less visible in the insurance sector. Our findings create not only the basis for a wider survey to extend and validate initial findings, but also for comparing and discussing concrete enterprise transformation cases.